(no subject)

Had a lovely, lovely weekend, though a busy one. Got to go to eilonwey's cookie exchange party this year and the hazelnut shortbread I brought along turned out beautifully so I was quite proud to leave it out on the table along with the rest of the offerings. And I got the most gorgeous pomegranate candle from eilonwey, she has become my official candle supplier :) Aelf and I couldn't stay long as we had to zoom over to elo_sf's holiday/birthday bash up in RWS that evening.

Somehow Aelf, moonlightnrain and I managed to order the 3 most perfect vegetarian dishes at the Malaysian place we went to and we could not help ourselves repeating that fact over and over again. It was just an amazing combination. I'm still stunned by the deliciousness of it all, though I was wise and limited my intake while giving away my own leftovers. As I told them, I wanted to stop while the dinner was a happy memory, any more and it would've set off my tricky stomach and made me disinclined to eat it again any time soon. I am learning my limits and it only took me 38 years to do it, go me!

Afterwards we went to visit the new kittens who were every bit as wonderful as elo_sf had led us to believe. So cute! And then there were gifts and I got precisely the reactions I'd been hoping for on 3 of the gifts and one awestruck look that I hadn't in my wildest dreams let myself believe I'd get. I can't even begin to tell you how gratifying that was. But even more so I got a donation as one of my gifts this year, thank you aelfsciene! And the amount of stuff was kept to a drastic minimum which left me positively sagging with relief. But I've got at least two more trips to Watercourse Way ahead of me and that makes me oh so very happy. I'm kind of tempted to use one set of gift certificates for a massage and the other to just go nuts in their gift shop...a dream I've long cherished. More bath stuff and candles...wow...so tempting.

Sunday there was shopping as I needed stuff like floss and, oh yes, food. Puttered around in the garden, tidied up the house and learned a valuable lesson about the flimsiness of my screen door and the fact that Kage doesn't know her own strength. I've often said that she tries to go *through* doors when the stray cat makes an appearance and this time she actually managed to do just that by throwing herself at the screen and knocking the whole thing off its track. I'm not sure who was the most freaked out by that, though Kage didn't make a reappearance for about an hour. Suffice to say the stray cat probably won't be back any time soon.

When everything was done to my satisfaction I settled in with fic, and oh lord did I ever enjoy it. I finally came up for air around 4:30 when my stomach reminded me that food might be a good idea. Made some dinner and then since I had extra butter left over, whipped up two more batches of shortbread cookie dough. I'll probably end up bringing them into work to torment my coworker E- who just dumped a tedious task in my lap and who also cannot resist sweets. It's a subtle form of revenge, but that's just how I roll.

I will also be sending out emails to folks whose holiday gifts I still have to see if we can maybe find some time on Saturday where I can play Santa. I want everything out of my apartment as soon as possible. Getting all the stuff shipped this weekend has allowed me to see my dining room floor again and I'd like to replicate that in my bedroom.

If only it was possible to kick an entire political party square in the balls.

*sigh*

Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002
In Meetings, Spy Panels’ Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA’s overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said. […]

With one known exception, no formal objections were raised by the lawmakers briefed about the harsh methods during the two years in which waterboarding was employed, from 2002 to 2003, said Democrats and Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter. The lawmakers who held oversight roles during the period included Pelosi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), as well as Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan).

I'm telling myself that the two who wanted worse techniques weren't the Dems, but that's only so I won't start beating my head against the desk. This about sums it up:

Since the voters put them back in power, the Democrats have taken impeachment off the table, punted on the war, never figured out a way to hold Republicans accountable for filibusters and obstructionism, so legislation is in the toilet, and never managed to use oversight power to do anything more than chip away around the edges of the Bush regime—though they have written a great number of Sternly Worded Letters.

And now, top Democrats turn out to be enablers of war crimes by our lawless executive. What a surprise. Harry, Nancy, nice work.

I voted for these people and this is what they've been doing behind closed doors? That does it, I'm changing my registration to Independent, or if I'm feeling brutally honest, Socialist from now on. Oh I'll still vote Dem (though I'll hold my nose to do it) because they're at least a quality of stupid, evil and corrupt that I can live with and frankly 4+ more years of GOP torturing, looting, and pillaging doesn't bear thinking about.