7 Quick Take Fridays - July 24

1. Deathapalooza: Day 29 - Still Dead. (Re: Michael Jackson). For the record, I have watched none of the coverage. Not that I didn't care for Michael Jackson - I had my own interest in him for a short while - but given how the mainstream media covers any other major story these days, one could predict how insane and saturated the coverage was going to be from the moment it was reported that he died. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll wait for the book.

2. I'm going to be adding alot of material to my blog in the next few weeks that comes from the pre-Vatican II era. It's all from a stash I discovered at my great-grandmother's house. Believe me, if you're really Catholic and/or have an interest in Traditional Catholicism, it's cool! There are absolutely amazing things in that stash.

3. We're going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in mid-August. Anyone have suggestions as to what to do and see, and where to eat - as well as what not to do? Thanks!

4. It's gladiola season! Yay!!! I love, love, love gladiolas! I love how big and showy they are. I love how you watch them slowly unfold and bloom up the stem. I love the great mix of dramatic colors they come in (my favorite is chartreuse.) There are many people who are creeped out by this flower; they see it as a funeral flower. True, gladiolas usually make it into the cheap funeral sprays. But if you choose to look at this flower in a different way, it really gives you alot of high style bang for the buck (i.e. they're cheap!)

5. It has been unseasonably cool here in Wisconsin this summer. Most people you talk to keep echoing the sentiment, "Where's summer?" I have said it too, but truth be told, I am enjoying this fall-like weather. While we have put the A/C on at nights, due to humidity, we've gotten away quite often with not running it during the day, which makes me happy. The thing is, I already know what's going to happen - late August and early September are going to be sizzlers.

6. All the rhetoric about universal healthcare/Obama's healthcare plan makes me sick. I can't read or listen to it anymore. The conservative bloggers I follow have presented potential scenarios of healthcare rationing that scare the crap out of me, but upon which have no real basis in reality or fact yet - it's all pretend "what if" situations being used as examples of why Obama's plan is bad news. All the presented scenarios end in death or a forced abortion. I'd like people to dial it down a little on the scare tactics, while still championing the cause (which I support) of a free-market, competition-based healthcare system.

7. Has anyone seen this movie yet? Food Inc. I'm interested in seeing it, but wary of another film that will make me walk away believing that I have to eat only organic or locally-grown food. There's a reason people joke about Whole Foods being called Whole Paycheck. We can barely feed our family decently as it is. Doesn't it just seem like a conspiracy out there, that it's only the rich who can truly afford to consistently eat healthy? It makes me really, really sad.