Patty Bush, Patty Bush, Insane religious Men

I should have known it was Bush
It's amazing how little ripples become big waves over time. This blog documents how President Bush has effectively cut mine safety dollars over the last several years and was warned about mine safety a long time ago. That doesn't mean he is directly responsible for the recent mine accident, but it raises the question that maybe more could have been done if the administration didn't cut money for everything not directly tied to terrorism. The people advocating for money for mine safety simply need to tell Bush that Al-Qaida wants to bomb our coal mines and suddenly they will find billion in anti-terrorism funds appropriated to them.

The high cost of making music
On Jan 3rd and Jan 4th, I posted comments on the the high cost of CDs and music in general. Now, I run across this rant by Courtney Love about how much money record companies make compared to the artists. It's actually quite interesting and something any music consumer should read. Looks like Courtney has some moments of clarity after all.

The Pat Robertson Comedy Hour
Also known as the 700 club. Patty-boy is in the news twice. First of all is his little gem of oral diarrhea that Ariel Sharon had a stroke due to divine retribution from God. He has also been in negotiation to acquire 125 acres of land in Israel to build Jesusland or JesusWorld or something. How scary, especially if the Log Ride is shaped like a crucifix. Cost of admission will be your eternal soul.

"Don't get saucy with me, Bearnaise"
There's a terrific scene in Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part I where the Count de Monet (day MONAY day MONAY) and Bearnaise are walking from their carriage into the Palace of Versailles. When the red carpet is rolled out, it is rolled over the backs of peasants, whom the two proceed to step on viciously as they walk into the palace. Why bring this up? It is strangely reminiscent of Bush's "economic boom."

Did you know he was that short?
Compare your height to famous people at www.sizematcher.com. Who knew I was seven inches taller than Bob Hoskins?!

Tips for King Kong
If you ever plan on being a monster on the rampage, an evil cult member or even have ambitions of being an evil overlord yourself, be sure to read up on the "do's and don't's" for each.

Oh, Goody! My Eludium Pu-36 Explosive Space Modulator!
The most frightening line in this story: "Children smeared the material on their faces and bodies because it glowed after the container was opened."

2006 starts off busy

Too many music options?
Yesterday, I posted a story about music prices. Today, CNN has an article about the decline in music sales. There are more musicians than ever releasing songs. And, you can get them in CD, DVD, MP3, PSP, FBI and KGB formats. I hope the musicians start taking the issue up with the real black money hole - the managers and marketing companies. And, I hope that some musicians begin getting promoted because they make a statement or good music, not just because they will "sell."

Bizarro World
Anyone familiar with Superman or Seinfeld knows what Bizarro World is: a planet where everything is backwards. Just like this high school student jailed for immigration violations, but yet Bush and Cheney run free.

Speaking of criminals in the government...
More administration blunders out CIA operatives. Another vendetta? And apparently Abramoff pleaded guilty today and began naming names. Lawmakers all over the place have begun dumping thousands of dollars into charities, even though these "contributions were legal." Yeah, I throw away money I legally obtain every day. It will be interesting to see whose resignation this forces. And, since 2/3 of the money Abramoff contributed was to republican campaigns, this may prove highly entertaining. Although, I don't think Tom DeLay can do any more damage to his career than he already has.

Why is "Leftist" such a bad word?
The wise "powers that be" in Chicago would rather jack up the rates of public transportation, primarily used by the poor working-class (like me) than take any of the filthy blood money proposed by the Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp. In other words, Hugo Chavez wants to keep rubbing Bush's face in it and has offered cheap petroleum to Chicago, who has turned it down. I think it is HILARIOUS. Although, I keep seeing Chavez called a "leftist" and the US media implying that is a bad thing. I need to do some research and try to find out exactly why Chavez is the bad guy, except that Bush hates him (which certainly endears Chavez to me--Go Venezuela!)

Too wordy for words
Breaking news: Don't miss the Lake Superior State University's annual list of banished words. This list is just too surreal. Please give it your up- or down-vote. If you are a first-time-caller, the list is 97% fat free. Just click the link, dawg, and you can git-er-done. They make for good talking points.

"Conservative Wonks Gone Wild"
You can't improve on a name like that. While I am in support of a rating system for websites to help parents control the content their children are exposed to, I am unequivocally opposed to any sort of censorship. I don't think a rating system would really work anyway. There are already certain pages my company doesn't allow me to visit. Certain pages on snopes.com get blocked for "tasteless/gross" content. Certain fitness or clothing websites get blocked for "provocative attire." It would be way easy for companies to ban all "R" rated or "NC17" websites without actually checking if the content might be useful to someone.

Dick and Bush
Get your mind out of the gutter! The ACLU has a new ad comparing Nixon lying to Bush lying and calls for Congressional investigation. Hopefully Congress is listening (because you know the NSA is).

Time is of the essence
I wanted to go into this in more detail, but I may not have time today. But here is the list of things that weren't all bad in 2005.

A Democrat to Cheer About
George Miller used an old, forgotten law to force Bush to reverse his suspension of an old, forgotten law. Republicans hate it when you use their own tactics against them (which is why more Republicans should re-think the filibustering ban).

Oops..we really meant they were all dead
The faux pas of the media reporting the miners had survived when really almost all of them were dead should make people question the verification process media outlets follow to verify reports. I realize there's not much they can do if they are given erroneous information, but trying to keep up with the Joneses to get ratings can blow up on your face. Who remembers "Bush wins Florida," "No, Kerry has taken Florida," "No, Bush has won Florida," "Aw, dammit, it's too close to call."

High Times
This may be more symbolic than practical, but Rhode Island has become the 11th state to approve use of medical marijuana. Since the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban, this law is technically without substance, but it may help force Congress to take up the issue. I don't fault the Supreme Court--they were simply responding to the letter of the law and said until Congress changes the law, people can be prosecuted under federal guidelines prohibiting medical marijuana use. For some reason, marijuana strikes terror into the hearts and minds of the conservative right and Bush has made it his personal mission to keep it illegal (read here, here and here). Frankly, crystal meth is much more of a threat to society than marijuana ever could be, but the federal government seems light years removed from the issue, forcing state and local governments to bear the costs of fighting the problem.

Bueller? Bueller?
Farris Hassan skipped his own news conference he organized. What's the deal with that? I haven't been exactly approving of his actions, although I do admit it is an amazing story and would like to hear more about his eye-witness accounts from an American, non-military viewpoint. He needs a manager, I guess.

I'm a shitty blogger

Bush didn't plan for Iraqi aftermath? Bite your tongue
Millions of dollars have been diverted from reconstruction and funneled into "security". Now Bush is going to cease new reconstruction funding entirely. Yay, Bush! Rah, Rah, Rah!

Censorship - it's not just for civilians anymore
I have to agree with the military when they want to keep sensitive information from insurgents. However, the fine line between keeping military intelligence from the "enemy" and squashing disagreeing viewpoints as un-American is too easy to cross. And we all know how this administration views disagreeing viewpoints.

Colplay gets radical on your ass
In another example of the extreme measures artists are taking to protect their intellectual property, the new Coldplay CD won't play - in almost anything except a conventional CD stereo unit.
If I were a recording artist, I would be pissed if people ripped off my stuff. However, I'm a consumer, and it pisses me off that CDs, that cost pennies to produce, sell for $10-$20. Concert tickets for 2 can cost easily over $100 for decent seats - sometimes several hundred dollars for anywhere within three blocks of the stage. Not to mention all the merchandising sales that go along with it - $20 or $30 for a t-shirt, etc. I know the artist themselves have little or no control over these costs; they are simply examples of marketing companies raping the demographic with the most disposable income.
But I maintain that people would by twice as many CDs if they cost $5 a piece instead of $10 or $15. There are certainly a lot of CDs that I would buy if they weren't so expensive. And I know a lot of concerts sell out, but smaller bands may be able to play more venues if it didn't cost so much to go see them. I was looking at tickets for a concert I would like to have gone to recently, but the "mid-level" seats that were left, with all the added on fees, cost almost $150 for 2 seats.

Sex, Lies and Iraqi Occupation
The Sex Lives and Sexual Frustrations of US Troops in Iraq: An Ocean of Ignorance by Stephen Soldz

Farris Hassan's Day Off
Farris Hassan is back home in Florida. I'm sure he'll be telling his story all over the media in the weeks to come, and probably making movie and book deals. I just hope that it's the real story of what he saw, and not what the US Government debriefed him to say. Still, there is no mention of the amazing story on Al-Jazeera.

I'm a shitty blogger
Has anyone coined the phrase "blogsnob" yet? We'll I want to be the first. Apparently, Nick Wilson has a list of 10 signs of a cheap (read: worthless) blog. I have AT LEAST 7 of the 10 things on his list. It is evident from his blog (read: opinion) that blogging should be reserved for professional journalists and web designers. Let me respond to each one of these "don'ts" individually. As always, my comments are in RED. I could point out that several of this "professional's" I's are not capitalized, but that should be obvious to any 5th-grader, so I won't.

What Makes a Blog Look Cheap?
1. Hypenated-Domain-Names.com
It's one of the first things I notice with a blog, as I often look at the url to get an idea of what the blog may be about if i click through from an uninformative link, or RSS title. For me, a hyphenated domain name is the very first sign of bad things to follow. Much on the rest of this list seems to proceed that first, tell-tale sign of a cheap blog.
Mine is hyphenated. I had no idea that hyphens were so barbaric. I read something that a lot of spammers use hyphens, which I don't understand, but if that's the main reason, I guess I'll often get mistaken for a spammer. And shouldn't URL be capitalized?
I've now taken the hypen out of my URL, mmmkay?

2. The Host owns the Domain
A real pet hate of mine, an otherwise professional blog with a url like subject.blogspot.com Sheesh! you expect me to take this blog seriously and you don't even own your own domain? Not the worst of crimes for certain, but again it's one of those little things that when combined with others goes to give a bad impression.
This is pure high-brow snobbery at it's finest. This is the equivalent of looking down your nose because someone checked a book out of a library rather than buying it at Barnes and Noble. Or frowning on someone because they bought their shirt at the (GASP!) Goodwill or the Salvation Army rather than the Gap or Banana Republic. Oh My God! The poor soul drives a USED Honda (or worse, rides the bus) rather than being sensible and buying a 2006 3-Ton Chevroford Earth Destroyer which seats 17 (personally endorsed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia). This sad individual should have titled his blog "letthemeatcake.com" (which is for sale, by the way), except without the forbidden hyphens, it looks like "let the meat cake", which is a lot clearer. The Internet if being used an economic equalizer, you asshole. Do a search for "Iraq blog" and read some of these. Not only are they a lot more interesting than some of the ones run by professional journalists, they are grassroots, down to earth, a slice of real life. I'm guessing that not a whole lot of Iraqi "commoners" can afford to host their own domains right now, but that doesn't mean their experiences are any less valid than mine or his. And, until you are paying my bills and providing for a roof over my head, don't tell me that the only valid blogs are owned by the writer, you classist asshole.

3. Using the Default Template
How can you give a professional impression, an impression of competence in your field when you're running exactly the same template as a million other blogs?
See #2. I'm guessing that a lot of Iraqis (many of whom only have 12 hours of power each day) don't place a whole lot of emphasis on designing websites when they want to tell the world about the living conditions in a war-torn country. In my case, I do this while I am at work. I have neither the time, the energy nor the finances to design and maintain a website. If I got paid to write for a living, it would be different, but I was not under the impression that blogging was restricted to professional journalists.

4. Cheap Advertising
Popups, and popunders, aswell as having your content buried beneath the ads, or having ads disguised as content is a big turn off for many I think. I believe there is a real art to getting advertising to blend and match content well, and it's very much a balancing act. Too many blogs are off-center in their approach i think.
See #2. I have advertising on my blog. Why? Because the site is free. It's the same reason we put up with the fund raising every spring and fall on Public Television. Why? Because it's free and they need to get their money from somewhere. He should have made this a little more clear. He made a veiled attempt to justify advertising. I hate pop-ups, too. CNN.com has popups, by the way. I could almost forgive this one if he made it clear that advertising is necessary and in most cases is pretty harmless. I've even seem some awesome things advertised, especially on "liberal" websites I otherwise would never have known about. One of my favorites is www.bustedtees.com, but of course all the world loves a good pun.

5. Posting "Daily Links"
Oh nice! You can't even be bothered to give your link recommendation a proper write up? I don't even bother to click these headlines, they're just worthless, and strike me as just laziness. I need to know why i should click your headline, and when i get there, if you're going to give me a bunch of links, i need to know why it would be worth my time to click them.
I don't think he's talking about these. I think he's talking about those pages we've all seen with something interesting listed in the search engine results. Then we click on the link and get taken to a page with link after link listed one after another. I agree with him on this one; I close the page right away.

6. Hit Counters
It's not 1997 you know? This stuff is just daft on a professional blog, if you really must have these silly little ego gimmicks on your personal site then fine, but for the most part, they're just tacky. The one exception to the rule is a nice looking graph or chart. Those can look kind of cool, and be interesting if presented well.
Ok, I don't use one of these, but what's the big deal? Especially for small sites, where the hits number in the single digits, the owner may want to know that information. Ignore it and get over it. And why is there a question mark after his first sentence? It's a statement, not a question. How unprofessional.

7. Colored Backgrounds
There's a reason whey people have been putting black text on a white background for 3000 years, it works! You're not being "different", you're making it harder for me to read your blog. Please stop it.
I'll go with him if the page is hard to read. However, ancient people never did anything for ease. They did it because of abundant resources and aesthetic reasons. Had black backgrounds and neon green been available, Tutankhamen would have been rockin' under a blacklight, too. Don't listen to this asshole; be different! Be creative! Just keep the reader in mind (which is why I bold all of my text; I had a hard time reading the plain text when I viewed the final post).

8. Fixed Width Designs
This has been a hot issue amongst the design crowd forever, and it's very much a matter of taste, but for me, I like to have a site fill my browser window -- there's nothing worse in my eyes than an 750px wide band of text sitting in the middle of my 1024px browser window -- how would you feel if you went out and bought a nice big TV, only to see the same crap screensize sitting in a sea of "white space"? Short changed i'd think no?
There are actually good arguments on both side of this old argument, but now you know where I stand on it.
See #2. This is another elitist argument. I'm not a web designer. I don't have time to code HTML. I let blogger.com choose the width and leave it at that. If you can read it, leave me alone.

9. Stupid Fonts
Im talking mostly about "handwriting fonts", or "comic" fonts. I'll tell you, there's nothing bloody funny about comic fonts heh! There's a very good reason why Amazon, Google, IBM, etc etc etc do not use these fonts, and generally stick to arial/verdana/helvetica/etc -- people can read them well, and they're installed on the majority of PC's.
See #7. If it's hard to read, I won't. I agree with him on that. But if you want to use something something OTHER than Times New Roman or Arial or Courier New, knock yourself out.

10. Gimmicks
Hard to define a gimmick, but i'll give it a shot and say that it could be anything that does not have clear purpose, and benefit for your readers. Gimmicks are just that, gimmicks. They serve only to show your naivety and amateurism in design and publishing. Harsh, but true.
"Design and publishing"? I thought "blogs" were online journals. A record of my thoughts and feelings. Next you'll be telling teenage girls it's amateurish to put stickers of ponies and "Heather (hearts) Kirk Cameron" on their diaries. This guy sounds like that prudish, anal-retentive teacher you had in school that instead things had to be such-and-such a way or they were going to take points off for aesthetics. He/She got the ruler out to measure EXACTLY how far your heading was from the top and bottom of the page. He/She took of points of your accent wasn't EXACTLY over the "e" or else explained at length (especially if your class was right before lunch and your vision was become blurry from low blood sugar) why the Cambridge Comma is right or wrong (e.g. red, white, and blue / red, white and blue).


Tomorrow: Why 2005 wasn't all bad (yes, Bush is mentioned, but barely).

Happy New Year and thanks for reading my shitty blog.