Super Tuesday and Fat Tuesday

It's Super Tuesday and I have already done my civic duty and went and voted. It was the first time for me voting in town and not in the little village of Krakow where I lived for the first 3 and a half years since moving to the Washington area. One of the things I realized when I went to vote is that I've apparently moved into a Republican neighborhood. When I walked to the table to pick up my ballot, the older lady sitting there didn't ask me which ballot I wanted. She automatically handed me the Republican ballot. I saw the elephant on the top of the ballot and said, "I need the other one please." You would have thought I'd grown two heads right there in the polling place. Oh well, there needs to be a rebel in every neighborhood and if I'm the rebel just because I voted for "the other party" so be it. In any case, I figure it's just a matter of time before our lovely Archbishop makes the pronouncement that if you voted for a Democrat to not present yourself for Communion, as he did in 2004. I enjoyed casting my "scandalous" vote and plan on continuing to go to Communion because I voted my conscience on multiple issues not jut one.

It's also Mardi Gras. While I didn't have time to make my King Cake (a fact noticed by the teachers I work with at school), I ate a big old hamburger tonight for supper. I also indulged in a bit of after school tv watching that I usually Tivo, namely Ellen's Mardi Gras show. Last night, I watched Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations. He was in New Orleans talking about what the restaurant trade has been through since Hurrican Katrina. Two years later, I found myself fuming at the pictures taken then and now in a city that holds a special place in my heart. Like Brooke over at The Four of Clubbs, I tend to not publicly voice my political opinions. However, I find what has happened in New Orleans and Mississippi reprehensible. While we can spend billions of dollars in a foreign country that we invaded even though our leaders were told that there was no credible link to Osama Bin Laden and there really weren't weapons of mass destruction, we can't seem to get real help, without tons of red tape and hoops to jump through, to AMERICANS who truly need help to get their lives and homes back together. If you feel moved to contribute to the rebuilding and cleanup efforts going on in the area (and face it, a lot of the work and money is coming from volunteers) there are several worthy ways to get help out. Check out Habitat for Humanity along with Make it Right and the Musician's Village. Even a little bit helps and the need is still great.