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Dita Von Teese EXCLUSIVE: Ok.co.uk gets up close and personal with the burlesque goddess

kty — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:13:05 -0800

DITA Von Teese is a busy lady.

When the famous burlesque dancer isn't performing at the Crazy Horse or dancing in a martini glass she is coming up with new routines and keeping her to-die-for figure in shape.
Ok.co.uk snatched a precious moment with the curvy beauty to find out what she's been up to recently, how she keeps fit and what she likes to wear in bed...

Hi Dita, how are you and what have you been up to recently?

I've been great! I've been spending a lot of time at my Paris apartment, taking French lessons and learning to live as a Parisienne! But now I am getting set to go back to Los Angeles to prepare for my shows at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas at The Crazy Horse Paris there.

What are your naughty wardrobe must-haves?

Great fitting lingerie. I always buy sexy bras of good quality that fit me well and give a good shape, and I always buy the string and the bikini that match. I am also obsessed with the perfect vintage fully-fashioned back-seamed stockings, so much so that I have my own brand which are made precisely as they were in the 1940s.

You obviously have an incredible (and world famous!) figure, how do you stay in shape?

I mostly do pilates on a reformer, but I also do yoga and take ballet classes. For me, variety is the key to a successful workout regime. When I get bored, I don't want to go.

What are you most comfortable wearing?

Something uncomfortable!! Ha!

Do you ever take a day off and just throw on some jeans/jogging bottoms?

Kidding aside, yes, of course I have days "off", and I do like to be physically comfortable. I don't know why everyone thinks jeans are so easy and comfy... I can get dressed more quickly and comfortably- not to mention chicly - in a pretty 50's era cotton day dress with a single zip up the back!With jeans you have to squeeze into them, button, zip, etc then you have to find a shirt to wear with it, and finally some silly socks and trainers! I grab one of my vintage dresses, one quick zip up the back, and I slip on a pair of ballet flats or easy heels, and voila, I look nice and I got dressed quickly and easily and I'm off! I hate that "I don't want anyone to think I care but look at me in my carefully-planned disheveled look" thing! I don't actually spend hours getting ready on a day-to-day basis, and I'm certainly not about spending a fortune on or making the effort with something as unappealing to me as jeans. I look silly in jeans.

What do you wear to bed?

Either a little lace slip or nothing at all. I love being nude in very fine sheets. I keep a dressing gown next to the bed and that's what I slip in and out of to wear around the house.

Who is your style inspiration at the moment (that is current)?

My modern influences are designers like John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier, and I reference things from books I have and old films I see. I definitely see other celebrities who look lovely, but my inspirations go beyond "lovely" and into eccentric, over-the-top territory!

Which staple item of clothing should every girl have in their wardrobe?

The perfect black dress that shows a bit of cleavage, but not too much of anything else. There should be one focal point. If you find the perfect dress, you can wear it over and over in different ways, with a great statement brooch, or a pair of shoes and handbag in a vibrant color, with gloves or a hat. I have a few of these perfect black dresses that I wear over and over, but no one notices it's the same dress because I wear it with different accessories.

How can girls with a tight budget achieve the ‘Dita’ look?

It's actually fairly easy because the fact is, my look is derived from not having money to buy expensive clothes. That is the reason I began collecting vintage clothes! I could see parallels between my favorite designers and vintage styles, so I would shop for vintage. Nowadays I see so many modern made clothes of all price points, I think it's become quite easy to look chic on a budget. My number one rule these days is to buy timeless, good quality pieces that I can wear year after year rather than trying to buy lots and lots of clothes. I would suggest to save up for the day you see that perfect dress that you might have considered to be too expensive. I find that it's actually more economical than snatching up piles of clothes. Whenever I do that, I end up with a bunch of things I never wear.

What’s it like being in your giant martini glass for The Bath? It looks uncomfortable!

Nothing worth doing is easy, and nothing that looks effortless actually is. I'm really only in there for about 3 minutes, and onstage, I never feel any kind of pain or discomfort anyway! I've come offstage with scrapes and cuts, but never feel it until later on.

Every girl likes to feel sexy and confidence is obviously the key, but do you have any mantras or routines that help you to feel sexy even when you’re having an ‘off’ day?

Well, like any woman, I do have off days, and I guess I just do my best to get through it and try to do something that makes me feel better, like exercising or making more of an effort with my appearance, like wearing a favourite dress. And sometimes there's nothing to do but go to bed and count on tomorrow being another day!

You’ve said the reason your style evolved was because you didn’t feel comfortable or suit the ‘normal’ look, what are your tips for girls who want to look different?

The most important thing to remember is that there can be no real definition of beauty... that old saying that beauty is "in the eye of the beholder" is the truth. Being true to yourself and using what you've got it the best way, I'm really just a girl who is enhancing what she's got, and that's it! I think there is something to be said for the women of the world that achieved glamour rather than being born a natural beauty, look at women like Marene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth etc all these women that once looked very average but managed to undergo a reinvention to become the icons we still remember today. There is no real reason that anyone can't do that with enough ambition, even if it's not for the silver screen, but for yourself, in your own movie - the one called your life!

What would you say are rules for a first date or dating rules in general?

I don't really have rules for first dates, because you never know but I do try to reveal myself to a degree, for instance I never try to dress down to make my date think I'm "normal" or anything like that! I like to make a good impression, but I don't want to make a man think I'm something I'm not. I think he ought to know right away that I like to wear this much eyeliner and this much lipstick! I think when I was younger I thought about what others thought of me from time to time, but that's out the window now. Being different and taking the road less travelled is what made me successful.

You always look incredible on stage, but do you still get nervous before a routine?

Of course I do! There's a lot to think about, and nervous energy is part of what makes a good show. When I feel too much at ease, the show usually doesn't go the way I want it to. I never relax into it. I control my nerves very well, I just do what I need to do to be in the right frame of mind, I have a few little rules to help keep it that way, mostly related to being alone to think and prepare. The cardinal rule is to not let anyone interrupt my backstage alone time.

What would you say is the difference between stripping and burlesque?

The term "Burlesque" as we know it today comes from a type of risque variety show in America that one would go to see in the 1930's and 40's, and performing striptease - stripping - is the word to describe what the burlesque performers did onstage. It's not just my opinion, it's a fact. Nowadays we use the word "burlesque" to describe this retro-styled striptease that is seeing a big revival. Without the strip, it's not burlesque, that's for certain, and the greatest burlesque star that ever lived, Gypsy Rose Lee, called herself a stripper. 'Stripper' is not a bad word, and you aren't going to hear me tell you that there is a difference between burlesque and stripping, because I think that's awfully pretentious to go on and on about how burlesque isn't really stripping - it is! Burlesque-style striptease is where the modern pole dancing type strip originated from, and essentially, we're all related. Initially, I worked in strip clubs, as did most of us that were at the forefront of the burlesque revival in the early 1990s, and I'm not ashamed to say it. I believe that those years spent on strip club stages is part of what makes me good at what I do.

What was it like performing at Crazy Horse?

I have a very high regard and respect for The Crazy Horse, it's a historic place. When I was a teenager, I saw one little picture in Playboy of these beautiful nearly nude 'toy soldiers' lined up, and I was desperate to find out more about this mysterious place. There was no internet yet, and I couldn't find out anything about it. I didn't even have the name of it, just this image that was in my head for all those years. So years later, when I was finally in paris when I was in my early 20s, I kept asking people about these naked 'toy soldiers', and I finally saw the show, and I was amazed. I went to the show every night I was in Paris, and for the next decade I would go see the show every chance I got. I also befriended a Crazy Horse historian and so I would get to see all the archives and meet former dancers. A few years ago I did a photo shoot there, which is something they never allowed, in order to preserve the mystery of the place. Little by little, I became more involved, and I became the first guest star in the history of The Crazy, so that was exciting. Everyone who was anyone went there, since 1951, and for me, just to be in that theatre to see the same stage that all these stars went, from Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, John F Kennedy, Gypsy Rose Lee, Salvador Dali, the guest list is impressive, and well, I just think it's incredible to think that there was once a time when a show like this was revered like that. It's the art of nude, the glorification of the female form, absolute perfection. There is no show like it on earth, and the history and mystery of this place is amazing. I'm a big fan, and part of my driving force in performing there was to bring attention to this amazing show, and of course I liked the challenge in creating acts for it that are both true to their history and ideals, and at the same time true to mine, which is based in American style classic burlesque, which is what originally inspired the founder to create the Crazy Horse in Paris.

How do you come up with your routines?

Ah well, coming up with the ideas isn't the problem, it's following through that is. I have lots of ideas for shows but then I have to really take some time to think about whether I want to invest the money and time into the idea. It takes a lot of time, effort and money to build one new act, and I am my own financier! Sometimes it can become frustrating because I do build all these big new elaborate shows and I will still get asked to do one of my oldest, simplest shows, like the Martini glass! And when I come up with these opulent new acts, they don't fit on some stages, or it's too expensive to ship...so there are lots of factors that come into play when making a new act.

* Crazy Horse Paris with Dita Von Teese available on DVD nowInterview by Nikki Barr.

Homeschooling: German Family Gets Political Asylum in U.S.

Yogaforlife — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:22:14 -0800

The Romeikes are not your typical asylum seekers. They did not come to the U.S. to flee war or despotism in their native land. No, these music teachers left Germany because they didn't like what their children were learning in public school - and because homeschooling is illegal there

"It's our fundamental right to decide how we want to teach our children," says Uwe Romeike, an Evangelical Christian and a concert pianist who sold his treasured Steinway to help pay for the move.

Romeike decided to uproot his family in 2008 after he and his wife had accrued about $10,000 in fines for homeschooling their three oldest children and police had turned up at their doorstep and escorted them to school. "My kids were crying, but nobody seemed to care," Romeike says of the incident.

So why did he seek asylum in the U.S. rather than relocate to nearby Austria or another European country that allows homeschooling? Romeike's wife Hannelore tells TIME the family was contacted by the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which suggested they go to the U.S. and settle in Morristown, Tenn. The nonprofit organization, which defends the rights of the U.S. homeschooling community - with its estimated 2 million children, or about 4% of the total school-age population - is expanding its overseas outreach. And on Jan. 26, the HSLDA helped the Romeikes become the first people granted asylum in the U.S. because they were persecuted for homeschooling.

The ruling is tricky politically for Washington and its allies in Europe, where several countries - including Spain and the Netherlands - allow homeschooling only under exceptional circumstances, such as when a child is extremely ill. That helps explain why in late February, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement formally appealed the Romeike ruling, which was issued by an immigration judge in Memphis, Tenn. His unprecedented decision has raised concerns that the already heavily backlogged immigration courts will be flooded with asylum petitions from homeschoolers in countries typically regarded as having nonrepressive governments.

"It's very unusual for people from Western countries to be granted asylum in the U.S.," says David Piver, an immigration attorney with offices in a Philadelphia suburb and Flagstaff, Ariz. In 2008, the most recent year for which data are available, only five Germans received asylum in the U.S. (The Justice Department declined to comment on specific cases.) Piver, who is not involved in the Romeike case, predicted the U.S. government would appeal the decision "so as not to offend a close ally

Successful asylum petitions typically involve applicants whose situations are more dire, such as women who were forced to undergo abortions or genital mutilation and men whose lives were threatened because they are homosexuals or political dissidents. But Piver believes the Memphis judge was right to grant the Romeikes asylum, since the law covers social groups with "a well-founded fear of persecution" in their home country.

In Germany, mandatory school attendance dates back to 1717, when it was introduced in Prussia, and the policy has traditionally been viewed as a social good. "This law protects children," says Josef Kraus, president of the German Teachers' Association. The European Court of Human Rights agrees with him. In 2006, the court threw out a homeschooling family's case when it deemed Germany's compulsory-schooling law as compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, an international treaty drafted in 1950. Given this backdrop, it's little wonder the Romeikes came up against a wall of opposition when they tried to talk to their school principal about the merits of homeschooling.

One of the Romeikes' concerns was about their kids getting bullied. But their main objection involved what was being taught in the classroom. "The curriculum goes against our Christian values," Uwe says. "German schools use textbooks that force inappropriate subject matter onto young children and tell stories with characters that promote profanity and disrespect."

While there are no official figures, it's estimated that up to 1,000 German families are homeschooling their children. Elisabeth Kuhnle, a spokeswoman for a German advocacy group called the Network for the Freedom of Education, says a recent homeschooling meeting attracted about 50 families in the state of Baden-Württemberg, where the Romeikes used to live. She also reckons many German homeschooling families have relocated to countries like France and Britain, where homeschooling is allowed.

In 2007, Germany's Federal Supreme Court issued a ruling - which did not specifically involve the Romeikes - that parents could lose custody of their children if they continued to homeschool them. "We were under constant pressure, and we were scared the German authorities would take our children away," Romeike says. "So we decided to leave and go to the U.S."

German officials, for their part, note that the Romeikes had other options. "If parents don't want to send their children to a public school, they can send them to alternative private schools," says Thomas Hilsenbeck, a spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg education ministry. Homeschooling advocates counter that there are few private schools in Germany, and they tend to be expensive. But beyond that, many religious parents have problems with sex education and other curricular requirements. "Whether it's a state school or a private school, there's still a curriculum that is forced onto children," says Kuhnle.

And then there are the social aspects of going to school. Homeschooling parents tend to want to shield their children from negative influences. But this quest often runs counter to the idea that schools represent society and help promote tolerance. "No parental couple can offer a breadth of education [that can] replace experienced teachers," says Kraus, of the German Teachers' Association. "Kids also lose contact with their peers."

Concerns that homeschooling could lead to insularity - or worse, as Kraus puts it, "could help foster the development of a sect" - are shaping policy debates in European countries. In Britain, for example, Parliament is considering legislation that would create a new monitoring system to ensure that homeschooled kids get a suitable education.

In Sweden, where parents have to apply for permission to teach their children at home, the government is planning to impose even tougher restrictions on homeschoolers. And in Spain, parents are not allowed to educate their children at home. Period. If a child has special needs that prevent him from attending school, a teacher will be sent to his home.

By contrast, homeschooling is legal in all 50 U.S. states, some of which don't require families to notify authorities of their intent to teach their children at home. Tennessee is among the states that require some form of notice as well as periodic assessment tests.

When Uwe and Hannelore heard that the judge had ruled in their favor, they celebrated by taking their five children - who range in age from 4 to 12 - to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. But the next day, they were back to their regular schedule. Lessons start at 9 a.m. and end at around 4 p.m. The school-age kids are learning all the usual subjects - math, science, etc. - with the help of textbooks and other teaching materials, in compliance with state law. The family has also joined a local group that organizes activities and field trips once a week for homeschooled children.

Meanwhile, the HSLDA says it is working to defend a homeschooling family in Sweden and is investigating cases in Brazil, where homeschooling is banned - all good fodder for a comparative-government class, whether it's taught in school or at home.

The original version of this article has been updated to reflect the fact that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has submitted an appeal requesting to overturn the judge’s decision to grant the Romeikes asylum.

Source:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1968099,00.html

Take care, love, take care.

MissCynthiaaa — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:14:23 -0800

Goodbye, love, take care.

HI. THIS IS A SONG I WROTE THESE DAYS. AND, LIKE RUSSELL REQUESTED,
THIS IS MY HAPPY POST. YAYYYYYYYY.
okay, I admit. I am a bit upset/disappointed/frustrated- whatever it is.
I hope you like it, tho you can't hear it. LOL.
I'm trying to come up with the accompaniment.
Cheers,

I tried to clear my mind off you,
But your words haunt me.
I tried to stop my heart from pain,
But the wound's still bleeding.
I thought you said you loved me,
I thought you say forever,
But once she came into our lives,
It's was all just lie.

You've hurt me,
Boy you've hurt me.
Those words you threw at me,
They cut me,
Oh they cut me deep.
I thought we were together.
I heard you say forever.
But I guess I'm wrong.

You see me smiling, see me cry.
You see me laughing,
You think I'm fine.
But boy, do you really understand me?

She's screaming, and I'm crying.
What more do you, want from me?
I'm tired of your lies, your words,
They hurt.
I tried to give you more time,
But once again,
You pushed me out.
So I guess it's goodbye,
I guess it's over.

I thought you said you loved me,
I heard you say forever.
But now she's yours, and you ain't mine,
I guess it's time for goodbye.

You've hurt me,
Boy you've hurt me.
Those words you threw at me,
They cut me,
Oh they cut me deep.
I thought we were together.
I heard you say forever.
But I guess I'm wrong.

She's screaming, and I'm crying.
What more do you, want from me?
I'm tired of your lies, your words,
They hurt.
I tried to give you more time,
But once again,
You pushed me out.
So I guess it's goodbye,
I guess it's over.

-End.-

P.S It's really retarded since I don't play any instruments and just popped tunes into my head. Oh well, they mean something, how I really felt. And right now, I'm just praying things' get better. Take care, love.

Seth Binzer aka Shifty with hot blonde Serena Viharo buying valentines day sex toys love oil

dawgy01 — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:29:57 -0800

Shifty and model Serena Viharo (my boy looked up at her mastercard when she made a large purchase for her boy) We knew she looked really familiar. Shifty kept asking for hot burning oil my buddy was working on the boardwalk at his store in Venice Beach, CA People were staring at this couple holding hands and kissing. Shifty is hard to miss. My boy was so tounge tied (he even said to Serena you are so beautiful I bet you hear that all day long) Of course while shifty was outside. Shifty bought them some stuff and she spent some time picking out about 30 silver stones with words like love trust. When my friend rang her up said he would give her better deal then he gave boy because she more beautiful (damm she was smokin) When asked if he was the lucky man getting all these words she just blushed. I admit stalked awhile and they were all over each other. Even went up to a hotel bar and had a full on hour make out session, I even tried to snap a pic but was to dark. So in own world they did not even see me so hot and heavy might get lucky and get a sex tape producer credit out of itI. I heard a lot of I love yous and talk about living togther I do not see Shifty down in Venice but heard he and this blonde have been spotted around town with a lot of PDA., that would be dope shifty is the man. Welcome to Venice my man you are welcome here homeboy and that fine lady of yourse

Here U go - Give these Valentines poems to your mate or your friends!

PinkNC — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 12:16:30 -0800

Be my Valentine

I think of you often...I do,
From morning 'til evening I do,
When memories bring laughter
Or moments bring pain,
There is faithfulness, too, once again.

And time always shows me
And God always shows me
Both sunshine and rain,
How, we gain yearly
From the love we're share dearly.

So, my dear, my sweet bubbaloo,
Remember our love, dulce bubbaloo,
For we've come so far and there's so much to come
And I have love to yet give
For the life we will live.....together.

Make little of what makes you cry,
Be sure that what makes you cry
Has greater desire and a more certain will
To pray for His help from above
and restore the feelings of love.

So let's stir up our passion today,
Let memories give way today,
To the now and the future
For the joys and hopes and for all
The times my heart hears you call.

I'm so glad,
I'm so glad,
I love you
You love me fine
Be my Valentine.

Contributed by: Jim

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My Valentine

Valentines is near
Just wishing you were here
You will always be near
My heart will never be the same

Beneath my skin, my soul lies waiting for you
Everyday I think of you I feel blue
Never give up hope
Remembering the first kiss

All I ask is to be with you
And for you to be my Valentine
For I will always cherish your heart in mine

Contributed by: Jose Villalpando

--------------------------------------------------------------

Love's Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdain'd its brother;

And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea
What are all these kisses worth
If thou kiss not me?

Contributed by: Maria

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Colors of Love

Love!

Love can be red, like the intense heat of a passionate kiss
.....the color of sweetness
.....the color of strawberries

Love can be blue, like the comfort we take in a pair of denim jeans
.....the color of strength
.....the color of perfect skies

Love can be yellow, bright and warm like the morning sun
.....like the sounds of laughters of children on the merry-go-round
.....like the sounds of fun from the boys flying kites in the open
fields

Love can be green, peaceful and serene I can hear your heart beats
.....it is the feeling of a loving hand that touch a grieving heart
.....it is the whispering of trusting words to a distressing soul

Love can be orange, the loudness of it can drive you up a wall
.....it can drive you to sing like nobody is listening
.....it can drive you to dance like nobody is watching

Love can be purple, the courage we need to love bravely and unselfishly
.....the moment I first kiss you i know that i am not afraid to risk involvement
.....the day the declaration of your love for me was made known to the world

Contributed by Arun Kumar

--------------------------------------------------------------

My Love

After so many years of loving you,
After so many things we've been through,
Still I couldn't find the reason,
Tell me why am I in so much love with you?

The day you left me,
My eyes couldn't stop crying.
The day I lost you,
A day didn't go I had pray for dying.

Come back my love,
Someone's still waiting for you.

Come back my love,
Someone will always wait for you.

Joti (Bangladesh)

--------------------------------------------------------------

Friends Forever

Are we friends,
Are we not.

You told me once, but I forgot.
So tell me now and tell me true,
So I can say I'm here for you.

And if I die before you do,
I'll go to heaven and wait for you.

I'll give the angels back their wings,
And risk the loss of everything.
Just to prove my friendship is true,
Just to have a friend like you.

Sadie

--------------------------------------------------------------

You've Touched My Heart

You've given me a reason
For smiling once again,
You've filled my life with peaceful dreams
and you've become my closest friend.

You've shared your heartfelt secrets
And your trust you've given me,
You showed me how to feel again
To laugh, and love, and see.

If life should end tomorrow
And from this world I should part,
I shall be forever young
For you have touched my heart

--------------------------------------------------------------

To My Husband, My Life, My Eternal Valentine

This is to thank you for being by side
For comforting and caring when I was all confused inside.
This is for the phone calls you make every day
Just to tell me “I love you” every minute of the day.

The way you take my hand in yours
For all the world to see
That this is the woman
Who is most special to me.

You always seem to know
When I need a hug, kiss or smile…
You never cease to amaze me
When you say, “I'm here…let's talk for a while.”

In decades past we've had our share
Of ups and downs and problems galore
But you are the one who remained at my side
Never thinking of walking out the door.

I adore the way you tell me,
“You are my forever best friend,”
I love the way I believe in you…
And that you will be there till the end.

Thank you for all the time you give me
And for saying, “It's never enough…”
Thank you for listening as I ramble on…
When things become rather tough.

We are in the best years of our lives
Thirty four years on our journey together
I want to grow old with you…and you with me
I want to love YOU---FOREVER.

JoMarie Grinkiewicz

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Rain or Shine ... Be My Valentine

Raindrops on our dresses,
Sunshine on our face,
No matter what the weather,
The look of love won't be replaced.

The silent sound as rain falls,
The brilliance of the sun.
They only promise radiance,
Caused by either one.

Let it rain, or let it shine,
It won't matter none.
You're such a lovely Valentine,
In either rain, or sun.

Let it snow, let it hail,
Earth blanketed with white.
It won't prevent our day,
Or deny the magic of our night.

Donna Wallace

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It's More Than Saying I Love You

We give on this day candy and flowers,
But we never stop to say thank you for the many hours.
You have stood by my side and gave a smile,
As if to tell our hearts it's been worth every mile.

No need to buy a teddy bear or even a card,
It's pretty simple and not at all hard.
Just put your arms around me and hold me tight,
And say without words that in your heart all is right.

You may say I Love You throughout the year,
But on this day you need to make sure.
The words so sweet and straight from your heart,
That your life would be lonely without my part.

So put forth the effort and take the time,
Look me in the eye and say I'm glad you're mine.

AngelWatchin

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Valentine's Day Love Poems

How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being an ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,--I love thee with the Breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!--and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Elizabeth Barret Browning

--------------------------------------------------------------

Mother's Valentine

My mother made a valentine
So very long ago
And decked it out all prettily
Like for a special beau.

I watched her as she cut the heart
Then frilled it up with lace
And worked artistically away,
A smile upon her face.

She wove a ribbon, shiny red,
Among the lace so white
Then placed a picture of herself
Through a slit she cut inside.

I saw the words, “I love you, Dear,
I'm proud to be your wife
You're given me the blessings
Of a blissful, wedded life.”

I felt like laughing out for joy,
My childish heart was glad!
Mom's special valentine would go
To a special beau named Dad.

Lucille King

--------------------------------------------------------------

Valentine Memories

Grandma's book of valentines
Rekindles memory's flame,
Of days when she was just a girl
And life a happy game.

Each lace-edged card a getting bears
From friends of long ago,
Girls in gingham dresses
And that “special” Sunday beau.

It brings a twinkle to her eye,
Dissolving lines of age,
As we sit in the lamplight
And turn each well worn page.

It makes me kind of wonder
f perhaps some distant day,
A grandchild shall sit at my side
And leaf each page this way.

‘Cause I could sit for hours,
There at my grandma's knee,
And listen to the stories
That the valentines set free.

A book of antique valentines
That reaches black in time
To tell the tales of yesteryear
In illustrated rhyme.

Shirley Sallay

--------------------------------------------------------------

To Celia

Drink to me, only, with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kisse but in the cup,
And Ile not look for wine.

The thirst, that from the soule doth rise,
Doth aske a drink divine:
But might I of Jove's Nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.

I sent thee, late, a rosie wreath,
Not so much honoring thee,
As giving it a hope, that there
It could not withered be.

But thou thereon did'st onely breathe,
And sent'st it back to mee:
Since when it growes, and smells, I sweare,
Not of it selfe, but thee.

Robert Burns: The Poetry (1896)

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One Perfect Rose

A single flow'r he sent me, since we met,
All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted pure, with scented dew still wet - -
One perfect rose.

I know the language of the floweret.
“My fragile leaves,” it said, “his heart enclose.”
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.

Why is it no one ever sent yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.

Dorothy Parker

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It's More Than Saying I Love You

We give on this day candy and flowers,
But we never stop to say thank you for the many hours.
You have stood by my side and gave a smile,
As if to tell our hearts it's been worth every mile.

No need to buy a teddy bear or even a card,
It's pretty simple and not at all hard.

Just put your arms around me and hold me tight,
And say without words that in your heart all is right.
You may say I Love You throughout the year,
But on this day you need to make sure.

The words so sweet and straight from your heart,
That your life would be lonely without my part.
So put forth the effort and take the time,
Look me in the eye and say I'm glad you're mine.

Marai

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.
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Does the Soul/Spirit Really Exist?

Cherlene — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:42:32 -0800

During my research of debating the existence of a human soul/spirit, I came across this blog. What do you think of this theory?

Science deals with what can be observed, directly or indirectly. So in one sense, you could say that science is simply not providing any answers to the question about the existence of a soul or spirit component of a human being.

That, of course, keeps science polite to religious ideas.

What science knows about the human body and the evolution of humanity does have some consequences for a soul-belief, however. This question is more philosophical than really science, but the two are not separated, and they shouldn't be.

First, the idea of a human spirit -- a ghost in the machine -- was developed when primitive people had an animistic view of life. Life was, they thought, a magic component that kept living beings alive. It was considered as real a thing as any other. Various religious people had different beliefs about how you could observe this spirit, and how it behaved.

Religions also needed a belief in a spirit/soul to postulate life after death. The soul-belief has remained a common (but by no means universal) part of human religions all over the world. At this time people had no idea how the human body worked. They knew about various organs -- like the heart or kidneys -- but really didn't have a clue what they were for. As we can see in the Bible, they often postulated various mental/psychological/moral functions for these organs.

Fast forward: We know how the body operates: we are essentially a machine. We also know that human thought is developed through electro-chemical processes in our brain, not very unlike a computer. We know basically how it works on a micro-level; the mystery that remains is to really understand how all these small thought processes build up a single self-aware consciousness. But we know that who "we" are -- our thoughts, feelings, memory -- are directly related to physical and chemical components in our brain. Sometimes disease or an accident damages small parts of the brain. People then have parts of their memory disappear, or being altered, or they lose motoric control over different parts of their body. We know how different chemical stimuli can create visions and change how the brain perceives reality. Many well-known and often-used substances can seriously change even a person's emotions.

What room, here, for a non-body component called a "soul" or "spirit"? If our personality was in a mystical spirit, why does it change corresponding to a body change? When a part of the brain is damaged, how come the personality supposedly in this spirit changes too? When we die, parts of our brain usually collapses and takes its thought patterns with it. Eventually, so much of the brain is gone that we are proclaimed dead, and the rest of the body is buried or burned; considered useless. Since a small brain damage does small damage to the personality in the supposed "soul", how can anyone believe the same "soul" suddenly is alive and well, with all memory, feelings and personality traits intact, when the brain is totally destroyed? What transfers this memory or whatever from the brain stem to this mystical soul?

In fact, the idea of a soul or spirit is ludicruous. To say that science has not disproved the idea for all intents and purposes is fooling oneself. In all other ways of life, the logical absurdities of postulating a "spirit being" would lead all sane people to reject it. We would assume that the idea was rejected. But out of respect (mistaken IMO) for religious emotions people still pretend that science has not disproved the idea of a spirit. For all intents and purposes, it has.

Let me illustrate with an example: say I postulated an idea that cars really had a car-spirit. The reason a car stopped when the gas run out was not, I claimed, the gas per se, but that the car-spirit had been depleted. When the car ran, it was driven by the car-spirit force, not by any combustion engine, even though I acknowledged the existence of such an engine. Would anyone seriously think this even made sense? That I had explained anything? That this actually merited any serious considerations, given that nobody had ever disproved the "car-spirit"? Of course not.

The existence of the human spirit has exactly as much merit as the car-spirit.

Our current understanding of how the physical brain creates our mind should in my opinion be sufficient to reject the idea that our personality can exist in a non-physical form.
It is true, and will probably always be true, that science does not understand everything about how our brain/mind works. It is, for example, a total mystery how the basic functionality of the brain hardware creates a conscious mind. In fact, it is pretty much a mystery what a conscious mind is.
Thus, in the same way that theists can push an increasingly elusive God into the gaps that still exist in our understanding of the physical universe, supernaturalists can try to make a soul or spirit fit into the gaps in our current knowledge about the brain. I argued previously that since an appeal to the supernatural is unnecessary for understanding the mind, it does not really explain anything, and since we reject these kind of pseudo-explanations in other situations in life, we should also reject it here.

The belief in a soul (or spirit) is closely tied to belief in human immortality. We have always observed that the human body is destroyed by natural processes after death. For our conscious self to survive physical death, we would need to have some component that is not material, and that survives death, bringing our personality, thoughts and memories into some trancendental existence. The ancient Egyptians used embalment to try to preserve the body for the afterlife. Most contemporary religions who espouse an afterlife doctrine argues that since we have a soul (or spirit), we don't need our bodies. We can still somehow live on.

As much as I personally would like to believe in an afterlife, I find that it contradicts everything we currently know about the world. Thus, I cannot believe it.

Now, I must hasten to add that there are many different definitions of both "soul" and "spirit", and this can easily confuse any debate to the point of becoming meaningless. Both 'soul' and 'spirit' is often used as a reference to artistic expression, a person's deepest conviction, or the depth of a person's character, and many other meanings. I am not presently discussing such things. I do refer to 'soul' (which I for this purpose consider synonymous with spirit) only in the meaning 'a non-physical entity that can carry our conscious selves after the body is destroyed.' If we have such a soul, this means that 'we' can survive death, and we will preserve at least some of our memories and personal qualities from this life. This being will have a sense of being a continuation of a past corporal life, of being 'us' in a real sense.

There are two dillemmas, or problems, I would like to point out to those who believe in such a soul.

Firstly, some supernaturalists point to known holes in our scientific knowledge of the world. Or they point to ill-understood, or perhaps more correctly, counter-intuitive scientific theories like quantum mechanics. I see this as an appeal to inaccurate knowledge. How can we reasonably conclude that lack of knowledge about certain details necessarily, or even probably, point us in the direction of the ancient beliefs of cultures that often didn't even know that the Earth was round? If a new discovery should actually point us in another direction, surprisingly giving us some support for the idea that we do have a soul, fine, then we should go along with that. But future developments are just as likely to point in the opposite direction (or more so). To hold on to a belief that conflicts with all present knowledge, expecting that evidence will mysteriously appear to support it in the future, is obviously irrational.

Furthermore, I will point out that the progress of scientific discovery has been consistently leading us away from supernaturalism and towards wholly naturalistic explanations. As science has been able to shed more and more light on the workings of the universe, previous supernatural explanations have been found superfluous at best, flawed at worst, and were rejected. The understanding of electricity has explained to us how lightning works. If there still existed people who believed in ancient Greek mythology, they would perhaps still postulate that somehow lightning bolts were really, somehow, on a metaphysical plane, the works of an angry Zevs, but I doubt anybody else would consider this a serious explanation.

The argument above is inductive, and somebody could still argue that sometime, in the future, scientists will discover facts that finally supports their particular supernatural beliefs, but in doing so, they violate everything we call common sense. Natural laws are derived from continued observation and inductive arguments, and once you have seen apples falling down a sufficient number of times, you no longer really believe it is possible they will fall upwards tomorrow.

The reason I suspect that quantum mechanics is currently en vogue as a hiding spot for the soul is that this is a fantastically counter-intuitive branch of science, and it is also complicated, generally only understood (if 'understood' is a good term here) by people who have a firm grasp of mathematics and physics. Previously, the theory of relativity has been popular among adherents of all sort of pseudo-science and new age'isms. It has the same convenient qualities as quantum mechanics: it is difficult to understand and its implications are quite baffling. Where understanding is lacking, it is easy to try to fit in some preconceived ideas. I am certainly no expert in either field, but I have never seen anyone giving a rational explanation of why QM or relativity should really support any form of supernaturalism. Rather, I see many examples of complicated terms being misused, and often used to baffle believers to conclude that a particular preacher knows more than he or she really does. Thus, I admise caution in adapting the terminology from science and using it where it does not belong.

The second problem I want to point out to supernaturalists who believe in the soul is an argument I already touched in my first article.

We know from empirical data that physical damage to the brain sometimes permanently damages a part of a person's memory. Sometimes, also, various abilites and talents are lost. When the physical brain is damaged, through accidents, disease or use of restricted substances, the personality and memory is directly affected. Sometimes scientists can learn a lot by observing which parts of the brain is damaged, and what effects this have on the patient, thus making meaningful conclusions about how the brain operates.

Now, if we really have a soul, which somehow retains all (or most of) this information independent from the physical brain, why does physical damage to the brain have this effect? Furthermore, as a person dies, more and more of the brain is destroyed, and the personality disappears along with it. This is a tragic spectacle to experience for anyone who has seen a loved one die a slow death. We see no evidence that there is a soul who keeps the mind alive through the decay and eventual destruction of the brain.

Why, then, should we believe that when the brain is totally destroyed, the personality, memories and abilities suddenly reappears in a non-physical form? Is the soul a metaphysical backup of our physical brain that is somehow liberated, tranformed to spirit form (whatever that is) and can live on.

I will reassert that the belief in a soul is a rudiment of an ancient, supernatural understanding of the world. It may have make sense for an ancient. who tried to understand how a person can live, to postulate an inanimate power within that was the 'real' person. It could then follow that this power, or soul, could survive death. But when it became obvious that thougths are directly linked to electrical and chemical processes in our physical brain, this view ceased to be rational. It defies reason and it defies the actual facts we have on the table. That many intelligent, otherwise rational people subscribe to this idea, I attribute to our species' remarkable tendency to be conservative in retaining beliefs and practices long after their usefulness is over.

The 'soul' is a relic of the past, an expression of nostalgia. To a significant degree it is also an expression of our desire for immortality. But wanting something to be true does not make it factual.
Jan Haugland.

Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells!

PinkNC — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:25:36 -0800

Henrietta Lacks' cells were essential in developing the polio vaccine and were used in scientific landmarks such as cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells

*Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine *

Medical researchers use laboratory-grown human cells to learn the intricacies of how cells work and test theories about the causes and treatment of diseases. The cell lines they need are “immortal”-they can grow indefinitely, be frozen for decades, divided into different batches and shared among scientists.

In 1951, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, created the first immortal human cell line with a tissue sample taken from a young black woman with cervical cancer. Those cells, called HeLa cells, quickly became invaluable to medical research-though their donor remained a mystery for decades. In her new book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, journalist Rebecca Skloot tracks down the story of the source of the amazing HeLa cells, Henrietta Lacks, and documents the cell line's impact on both modern medicine and the Lacks family.

Who was Henrietta Lacks?

She was a black tobacco farmer from southern Virginia who got cervical cancer when she was 30. A doctor at Johns Hopkins took a piece of her tumor without telling her and sent it down the hall to scientists there who had been trying to grow tissues in culture for decades without success. No one knows why, but her cells never died.

Why are her cells so important?

Henrietta’s cells were the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture. They were essential to developing the polio vaccine. They went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity. Many scientific landmarks since then have used her cells, including cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

There has been a lot of confusion over the years about the source of HeLa cells. Why?

When the cells were taken, they were given the code name HeLa, for the first two letters in Henrietta and Lacks. Today, anonymizing samples is a very important part of doing research on cells. But that wasn’t something doctors worried about much in the 1950s, so they weren’t terribly careful about her identity. When some members of the press got close to finding Henrietta’s family, the researcher who’d grown the cells made up a pseudonym-Helen Lane-to throw the media off track. Other pseudonyms, like Helen Larsen, eventually showed up, too. Her real name didn’t really leak out into the world until the 1970s.

How did you first get interested in this story?

I first learned about Henrietta in 1988. I was 16 and a student in a community college biology class. Everybody learns about these cells in basic biology, but what was unique about my situation was that my teacher actually knew Henrietta’s real name and that she was black. But that’s all he knew. The moment I heard about her, I became obsessed: Did she have any kids? What do they think about part of their mother being alive all these years after she died? Years later, when I started being interested in writing, one of the first stories I imagined myself writing was hers. But it wasn’t until I went to grad school that I thought about trying to track down her family.

How did you win the trust of Henrietta’s family?

Part of it was that I just wouldn’t go away and was determined to tell the story. It took almost a year even to convince Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, to talk to me. I knew she was desperate to learn about her mother. So when I started doing my own research, I’d tell her everything I found. I went down to Clover, Virginia, where Henrietta was raised, and tracked down her cousins, then called Deborah and left these stories about Henrietta on her voice mail. Because part of what I was trying to convey to her was I wasn’t hiding anything, that we could learn about her mother together. After a year, finally she said, fine, let’s do this thing.

When did her family find out about Henrietta’s cells?

Twenty-five years after Henrietta died, a scientist discovered that many cell cultures thought to be from other tissue types, including breast and prostate cells, were in fact HeLa cells. It turned out that HeLa cells could float on dust particles in the air and travel on unwashed hands and contaminate other cultures. It became an enormous controversy. In the midst of that, one group of scientists tracked down Henrietta’s relatives to take some samples with hopes that they could use the family’s DNA to make a map of Henrietta’s genes so they could tell which cell cultures were HeLa and which weren’t, to begin straightening out the contamination problem.

So a postdoc called Henrietta’s husband one day. But he had a third-grade education and didn’t even know what a cell was. The way he understood the phone call was: “We’ve got your wife. She’s alive in a laboratory. We’ve been doing research on her for the last 25 years. And now we have to test your kids to see if they have cancer.” Which wasn’t what the researcher said at all. The scientists didn’t know that the family didn’t understand. From that point on, though, the family got sucked into this world of research they didn’t understand, and the cells, in a sense, took over their lives.

How did they do that?

This was most true for Henrietta’s daughter. Deborah never knew her mother; she was an infant when Henrietta died. She had always wanted to know who her mother was but no one ever talked about Henrietta. So when Deborah found out that this part of her mother was still alive she became desperate to understand what that meant: Did it hurt her mother when scientists injected her cells with viruses and toxins? Had scientists cloned her mother? And could those cells help scientists tell her about her mother, like what her favorite color was and if she liked to dance.

Deborah’s brothers, though, didn’t think much about the cells until they found out there was money involved. HeLa cells were the first human biological materials ever bought and sold, which helped launch a multi-billion-dollar industry. When Deborah’s brothers found out that people were selling vials of their mother’s cells, and that the family didn’t get any of the resulting money, they got very angry. Henrietta’s family has lived in poverty most of their lives, and many of them can’t afford health insurance. One of her sons was homeless and living on the streets of Baltimore. So the family launched a campaign to get some of what they felt they were owed financially. It consumed their lives in that way.

What are the lessons from this book?

For scientists, one of the lessons is that there are human beings behind every biological sample used in the laboratory. So much of science today revolves around using human biological tissue of some kind. For scientists, cells are often just like tubes or fruit flies-they’re just inanimate tools that are always there in the lab. The people behind those samples often have their own thoughts and feelings about what should happen to their tissues, but they’re usually left out of the equation.

And for the rest of us?

The story of HeLa cells and what happened with Henrietta has often been held up as an example of a racist white scientist doing something malicious to a black woman. But that’s not accurate. The real story is much more subtle and complicated. What is very true about science is that there are human beings behind it and sometimes even with the best of intentions things go wrong.

One of the things I don’t want people to take from the story is the idea that tissue culture is bad. So much of medicine today depends on tissue culture. HIV tests, many basic drugs, all of our vaccines-we would have none of that if it wasn’t for scientists collecting cells from people and growing them. And the need for these cells is going to get greater, not less. Instead of saying we don’t want that to happen, we just need to look at how it can happen in a way that everyone is OK with.

Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells!

PinkNC — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:06:07 -0800

Henrietta Lacks' cells were essential in developing the polio vaccine and were used in scientific landmarks such as cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells

*Journalist Rebecca Skloot’s new book investigates how a poor black tobacco farmer had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine *

Who was Henrietta Lacks?

Why are her cells so important?

There has been a lot of confusion over the years about the source of HeLa cells. Why?

How did you first get interested in this story?

How did you win the trust of Henrietta’s family?

When did her family find out about Henrietta’s cells?

How did they do that?

What are the lessons from this book?

And for the rest of us?

Shanghai Business Trips Tips

beijingtours — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:41:13 -0800

Planning on doing business in China? Business in China is not the same thing, where you are. If you compare China to keep your country, but this is fine, you will not be more useful in China. If they agree on their own terms. Here are some tips on doing business in Shanghai. 1. Be punctual - Shanghai people are known for their punctuality, so that they will expect the same for you. Although this is not the case, is observed in most Asian countries, and here. Try to arrive 10 minutes earlier. 2. Stay in Pudong - Shanghai is the eastern side and where the most high-tech companies and government agencies. Puxi is the older, more traditional side of Shanghai. So, if you do not live companies on the West Bank, right here. Tips - You can prepare a fantastic underwater world of Pudong to Puxi about 5 dollars. This amazing journey with a beautiful light show. You will not see ads along the Bund. 3. Make sure to avoid the federal government - for people who come to you asking for help (you are not tourists do not you?) Or do you want to take their photograph. I know it sounds pleasing, but this is just a gimmick. Be careful. 4. Business-smoking men - unlike other countries, many people still smoke in a business environment, but it is gradually emerging. When you organize a meeting with a Chinese businessman, you do not take it to the Western restaurant / hotel, where you can not smoke. Do you think he is somewhere more convenient way is it before you start. So: the sensitivity of cultural strategies. 5. Xrays in the subway - most of all the subway stations examined Xray machines in luggage. Collapsing completely sure that your laptop is not damaged or that pass through your movie, and so on. Unlikely, but be careful. 6. WiFi - you can get Wi-Fi in many cafes, especially close to Pudong, but you often have to ask for a password to access the network. 7. Travel Card - when you stay more than a week to get a network card. You can use the subway, bus, and in most taxis. This means that you need to spend less cash with them and spend less time standing in line. 8. Metro City - is the IT mall (Puxi) and Best Buy and other Western companies on the same street. 9. More information about the deal - in most Asian countries are expected for some trades that do not take to heart. If they are asking 100, I suggest you see a 30 in the horror, we have to bargain a little, and eventually settle at around 60. 10. Chopsticks - if you stay at the Hyatt, etc., to learn and use chopsticks. Most places are no knives and forks. It takes 30 minutes to learn how to use chopsticks. Ask a local practice with peanuts. This is the only way. 11. Expo 2010 - Construction everywhere, so try to stay away from the Bund (Puxi side in particular), and under this heavy revision. Remember, Shanghai, not Beijing, and Beijing is not Hong Kong.
Shanghai is so wonderful,if you want to visit Shanghai,the following you can choose to stay
Tong Mao Hotel Shanghai Yalong International Hotel Shanghai Zhao An Hotel Shanghai Great tang hotel Shanghai Liang an hotel Shanghai New Harbour Service Apartments Shanghai Ivy Hotel Shanghai Penta Hotel ShanghaiSports hotel Shanghai Laurel hotel Shanghai Rendezvous merry hotel Shanghai

Idocracy anyone?

stephley — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:16:20 -0800

Markos Moulitsas has started to leak the results of a comprehensive Research 2000 poll of Republicans, asking for their take on a series of hot-button issues. Thirty-nine percent of Republicans, for example, want Obama to be impeached. Thirty-one percent want a ban on contraception.

We haven’t seen the full poll results yet, but I’ve been shown an early list of the questions that Research 2000 cycled through. Some of the wording may have been changed since.

QUESTION: Should Barack Obama be impeached?
QUESTION: Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States?
QUESTION: Do you think Barack Obama shows too much deference to foreign leaders?
QUESTION: Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?
QUESTION: Do you believe ACORN stole the 2008 election?
QUESTION: Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Barack Obama?
QUESTION: Do you believe your state should secede from the United States?
QUESTION: Should Congress make it easier for workers to form and join labor unions?
QUESTION: Would you support or oppose giving illegal immigrants now living in the United States the right to live here legally if they pay a fine and learn English?
QUESTION: Should homosexuals be allowed to serve in the military?
QUESTION: Should homosexuals be allowed to marry?
QUESTION: Should homosexual couples receive any state or federal benefits?
QUESTION: Should homosexuals be allowed to teach in public schools?
QUESTION: Should sex education be taught in public schools?
QUESTION: Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world?
QUESTION: Are marriages equal partnerships, or are men the leaders of their households?
QUESTION: Should contraceptive use be outlawed?
QUESTION: Do you believe the birth control pill is abortion?
QUESTION: Do you consider abortion to be murder?
QUESTION: Do you support the death penalty?
QUESTION: Should women work outside the home?
QUESTION: Do you believe that the only way for an individual to go to heaven is through Jesus Christ, or can one make it to heaven through another faith?

http://washingtonindependent.com/75468/impeach-obama

Ahhh, the answers are rolling in:

A new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll, conducted among 2,000 self-identified Republican respondents nationwide, gives an interesting peek into the psyche of the minority party's base.

Kos has not yet released the full numbers, but here's some early info on the poll that he has posted on his Twitter account:

• 39% of Republicans want President Obama to be impeached.

• 63% think Obama is a socialist.

• Only 42% believe Obama was born in the United States.

• 21% think ACORN stole the 2008 election -- that is, that Obama didn't actually win it, and isn't legitimately the president, with 55% saying they are "not sure." This number is actually significantly lower than it was in a similar question from Public Policy Polling (D) back in November, which said that 52% of Republicans thought ACORN stole it. So does this mean Obama is gaining ground among Republicans? As it is, only just over 20% of Republicans will say that Obama actually won the election.

• 53% think Sarah Palin is more qualified than Obama to be president.

• 23% want to secede from the United States.

• 73% think gay people should not be allowed to teach in public schools. This position puts the GOP base well to the right of none other than Ronald Reagan, who helped defeat the Briggs Initiative, a 1978 referendum in California that would have forbidden gays or people who advocated gay rights from teaching in public schools.

• 31% want contraception to be outlawed.