Hello?! Is this thing on?

2006-09-22T20:36:00.000-06:00

TV's 10 Least Appealing Women
Maxim magazine has published a list of TV's 10 least appealing women. I can't access Maxim's website from work ("provocative attire"), but I do see that Fran Drescher, Tina Fey, Pam Grier and Christine Amanpour are on the list. What I immediately thought of is their noses. None of those four women have what you would call a "normal, WASP button nose." They are all sort of ethnic-looking. I don't know who made their "most appealing" list, but apparently if you don't look like a Stepford Wife, you don't make the cut. None of these four women are unattractive in the least. I didn't compare their breast sizes--that might have something to do with it, too. Tina Yothers is punk-looking now (have you seen Celebrity Fit Club?) and Peggy from King of the Hill is a cartoon. Just the fact the Kathy Najimy does her voice should give her some extra points to keep her off of this list.

Hotel Security Guard Killed
This man was probably going to retire next year. He was killed during a robbery at a Fairfield Inn in Clearwater, Florida

Does he really buy his own bullshit?
Ok, who HASN'T heard the quote about "bombing Pakistan back to the stone age"? Bush is seriously trying to pass off that he only just heard about this today? You KNOW Rove and Cheney were smirking and chortling about it when it was first said right after 9/11! And Bush has the best intel in the world--so good that he knows things about Iraq that no one else in the entire world knows (including Saddam Hussein)--yet he NEVER EVEN HEARD this quote until today? I am the LAST one to help out Bush, but he would have been much more "credible" (if that is possible) for him to say that he had heard the comment, but that it was not representative of the Administration's viewpoint, or something like that. This is not a case where plausible deniability applies, since the quote was all over every press agency (I'm sure Fox News had a banner with the quote put up on their wall).

Death of Hatred
Louis Farrakhan has revealed he is seriously ill. This man has spread division and hate across the US and the world for the last 50 years. It will be a great day indeed when he finally kicks the bucket.

Further Proof of Serfdom
Two things have surfaced that further prove the the rich are becoming richer and the poor are being relegated to serfs or indentured servants again.

(1) I have a bunch of bills to pay off, including medical bills, and have been trying to find a part-time job. So far, every job I have applied for has checked my credit score. I've applied at over half a dozen companies, and so far I can't even get an INTERVIEW at any of them. I've been at my job for 13 years, have only lived at 2 different addresses in the last 10 years, can provide a dozen personal and business references, can pass a criminal background check and a drug test, and I have a 1-year diploma in retail management. However, I am voted "most likely to steal" in the Job Applicant Yearbook because of my low credit score. The people that most need a job and make money can't get work (or extremely low-paying work) because of economic status discrimination. If I said, "Oh, statistically a higher percentage of blacks steal than whites, so I'm not going to hire blacks to handle money at my store," I would be in court so fast my head would spin. But, I'm allowed to say, "Oh, statistically a higher percentage of poor people steal than wealthy people, so I'm not going to hire poor people at my store," and it's perfectly legal. As a matter of fact, studies have shown that credit checks are UNRELIABLE when trying to predict when someone will steal. I wonder if Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling had good credit scores? I'm betting that they did.

(2) There are no more millionaires on the Forbes Richest 400 list. They are all BILLIONAIRES now. In fact, the total net worth of the Richest 400 went UP by $120 billion from last year.

President Clinton addresses criticisms of his handling of bin Laden
Clinton finally tears into someone for criticizing how he handled bin Laden. I distinctly remember the Embassy bombings. I remember Clinton's retalination against al Qaeda and the media reaction. (1) It was during the Monica Lewinsky hearings and (2) it was just after the movie "Wag the Dog" came out. People were SCREAMING that Clinton was just trying to take attention away from his sex scandal, instead of legitimately reacting to an attack against US property. You can think what you want to about his infidelity, but Clinton reacted to al Qaeda. As he says in this interview, he had an anti-terrorism plan when he left office and Bush didn't do anything with it until after 9/11. Now, those same people are SCREAMING that 9/11 is all Clinton's fault because he didn't do ANYTHING about the threat of bin Laden and al Qaeda while he was in office. Well, hopefully the gloves are off and Clinton can start telling it how it really is. It might also help strengthen the Democrat's position for the November elections, since being weak on National defense is a major obstacle for them. Be sure to read the whole interview; it's very good.

King George IV

2006-09-20T00:15:00.000-06:00

It's very ironic that the United States declared its independence from King George III over 200 years ago and made a list of his abuses of office in the Declaration of Independence. Now, we find ourselves at the mercy of another (King) George, and his list of abuses actually don't fall too far from King George III's. Actually, each one of reasons below can fit our George as well as theirs! Is anyone paying attention? I'm not the first one to notice this.

First of all, here's the complete Declaration of Independence. You know, I don't think I've ever read the whole thing before. At least not in the historical context of George W. Bush. I have highlighted in red the passages that seem to particularly apply to today's administration:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. - Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. (although Bush actually only vetoed one law, but one that had the potential to benefit all of mankind--stem cell research.)

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. (Does appointing John Bolton to the U.N. while Congress was in recess count?)

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. (Does helping to introduce laws to benefit the wealthy and the oil industry rather than laws to help most of the regular people in the country fit?)

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. (GW would if he could, especially if the Democrats win back both houses of Congress in November. "Reserving the right" to ignore Congress whenever he wishes amounts to nearly the same thing. )

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. (How about just appointing incompetent people to important positions ["Heckuva job, Brownie"])

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. (Immigration "reform")

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. (Does holding out for extremely conservative judges on the Supreme Court count? Eh, close enough.)

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. (How many Supreme Court Justices and federal justices did he appoint?)

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. (The Department of Homeland Security. 'Nuff said.)

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. (This is a stretch, but I don't believe Congress ever declared war on Iraq, and most of our Army Reserve and National Guard units have been activated to go over there, technicallylly the US is at "peace.")

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. (His effort to have "military tribunals" to judge the detainees at Guantanamo.)

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: (He has said on numerous occasions that the office of the President can override laws. His "signing statements" and illegal/unconstitutional wiretapping are examples of this.)

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: (This is certainly true in Iraq, where we have thousands of troops. And, here in the US, weren't we encouraged to rat on our friends and neighbors of they did anything suspicious?)

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: (Abu Ghraib, any one?)

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: (Sanctions against Cuba, Iran, decreased trading with "leftist" leaning governments in South America, nameVenezuelaela.)

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: (When does anyone really consent to more taxes? But how else is he gonna pay for his little wars?)

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: ("Detainees" in Guantanamo, secret CIA prisons)

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: (The CIA's rendition program. Several recent victims of rendition have come out to tell their stories and prove their innocence.)

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies (This is close enough to "invading a sovereign nation" and replacing its government with your own.)

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: (Chipping away at the Bill of Rights. Saying that National Security override civil liberties. Saying it is the right and duty of the government to spy on its citizens.)

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. (This is close enough to his "signing statements" where Bush has basically said he can contradict or override whatever law he is signing just because he is the president.)

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. (Don't think the "War on Terror" stops at the US border. It extends right into your newspaper, your living room, and your telephone, even declaring U.S. citizens "enemy combatants".)

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. (Of you think of "our" in global terms. This is especially true of Iraq, and, for now, Iraq is "ours".)

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries completeeat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. (This speaks for itself and needs no tweaking to completely apply to GW.)

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. (Basically, forcing Iraqis to attack Iraqis, whether they want to or not.)

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. (This is a little politically incorrect ["merciless Indian Savages"?], but basically he has agents among us in the form of the Department of Homeland Security that has "excited domestic insurrections amongst us".)

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. (Amen, brother! By the way, a tyrant in ancient Rome simply meant that he came to power by illegal means, not necessarily that he was a bad or mean ruler. GW certainly qualifies as a "tyrant" using that definition.)

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred. to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. - And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

- John Hancock

New Hampshire:Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Here is a little more current and detailed list of George Bush's transgressions against the American people.

If I were President

2006-09-01T23:44:00.000-06:00

We all daydream about being President from time to time. I've been daydreaming lately about what I would do differently than the current administration:

First of all, I would get the troops out of Iraq, but that's nothing different than anyone OTHER than George W. Bush would do.

I would try to get a bill introduced to end the production of completely internal combustion engines in the US. I would like it to say "OK, by Jan 1, 2008, all new cars sold in the US have to be either E85, hybrid electric, completely electric, or hydrogen. They CANNOT run 100% on gas (unless it's E85)." The bill would also need to say that in X number of years (preferably 5, but possibly 10) that new cars sold in the US could not run on gasoline at all--they would have to be 100% electric or 100% hydrogen. Get some movement toward ending our dependence on oil! Of course most of the current administration earned their fortunes from oil, so they don't do anything than give a little bit of lip service towards ending our oil dependence.

Next, instead of just throwing our military toward every problem the US has (or creates), I would sit down with other world leaders to find out 1) why everyone hates the US and 2) what we could do about it. I would sit down with the presidents of Iran and Syria and Venezuela. Why not? They can't bite. Find out exactly what they want from their own mouths and what we would do to work better together. Chavez seems to be the darling of the world right now, making deals with Cuba, China and Iran (mostly to piss off the US--I think it's hilarious). I think a US administration could learn something from him.

I would also end our embargo of Cuba. Come on now, being pissed at Castro for the Cuban missile Crisis is getting a little old. OK, so he's an oppressive regime. So what? Business is business. Oh, he's Communist? Well, we can fucking well vote China as "most favored nation" but we can't sell Cuba engine parts? Get over yourself, it's not that serious. Hell, after Castro dies, we could probably make Cuba our 51st state and not too many would mind. Wouldn't that be cool?

I would try to legalize pot. I think smoking pot is kinda dumb, but overall, I don't think it's that harmful. We would have to have laws about driving or working high, but if people want to smoke some weed at home, what's the big deal? Oh, and I would tax the hell out of it and pay off the federal deficit.

I would throw all the money I possible could toward stem cell research and HIV prevention/research.

How to solve the social security problem? That's easy. Right now, if you make over something like $94,000/year or something like that, you don't pay SS tax on the additional amount. I would at least double it. Ok, let's make it $200,000. No, how about $500,000. Why not just make it an even $1 million. The Social Security program would have so much money coming out their ears, they wouldn't know what to do with it all. Then I would have them take the extra money and make sure that everyone drawing Social Security had full health coverage, including prescription drugs. Hell, since we can't get universal health care passed, why not at least give health coverage to every dependent child? The poor need SOME help!

While I'm at it, why not just get rid of the Income Tax altogether and just make a sales tax instead?

Since we're talking about helping the poor, let's try to help end some of the predatory practices that make poor people automatically into criminals just for being poor. Let's add "economic status" or "credit score" to the anti-discrimination clauses. Did you know many jobs run a CREDIT SCORE on potential applicants and will refuse to hire applicants with a low credit score? Did you know it's perfectly legal to charge people with a low credit score thousands of dollars more in interest than those with good scores? So, the people who can least afford it can't get hired at many jobs and can't pay off the debts or loans they have. This just creates a circle of poverty that is impossible to escape simply because they aren't allowed to.

Let's start naming names of Congressman who won't vote for bills that will actually help people out because the lobbyists don't want them to. If I got a bill introduced (the car one, for example) and certain Congressmen didn't vote for it because they were in the pockets of oil companies or other lobbyists, I would call a press conference and name their names and what companies are paying them off to vote it down. Stop playing Mr. Nice guy.

Oh, I'm sure this wouldn't pass, but I would also try to get a bill introduced that would restrict all bills to one subject only. Oh, you can make the bill as wordy as you want to, but don't include abortion laws in a minimum wage bill (like Bill Frist did to kill the minimum wage bill). They have NOTHING to do with each other. Congressmen would say that it saves time, but that's bullshit. That's just rhetoric to get pork barrel laws passed on page 497 of a bill about fishing and wildlife that no one reads. You want to pass a 1,500 page law that declares the pissing bitch shrew endangered in Wyoming? Sure. Oh, page 1,498 includes a $3 billion retirement package for Congressmen, but you won't notice.

And how about starting some contests? The private contest for $10 million for the first private vehicle into space was so successful, people finished way ahead of of the contest end-date. What if the federal government started making contests for things we need? $25 million for a non-gas burning car that can drive 500 miles on one tank/charge whatever. I think we would see an explosion of creativity not seen in years in this country.

And how about reading the news to see what "experts" think you are doing wrong? I mean we know Bush doesn't give a shit about what anyone else thinks--it's his way or the highway, but how about if the president actually watched CNN or read the blogs and listened to people once in a while? That would be novel.

Israel is rewriting history again

2006-07-24T22:13:00.000-06:00

This has got to be the one of the greatest cases of the victors ALREADY attempting to rewrite history to make themselves look better.

Here is a more balanced view, incidently also on Haaretz.com.

2006-06-21T19:54:00.000-06:00

Kentucky blogging site being blocked

George Bush seen "defacing" flag.

Bill Frist attaches anti-abortion legislation to minimum wage bill.

Ann Coulter is my Hero

2006-06-08T02:46:00.000-06:00

I've said it once and I'll say it again. Ann Coulter is an ingeniously created character. You LOVE to hate her. You can't wait to tune in to see what stupid thing she'll say next. You buy her book just to be able to rip apart her moronic statements and PROVE her wrong! Whoops! She got you. She's laughing all the way to the bank. Ann Coulter is the product of a marketing genius. Remember Madonna? Remember her Sex book? It shocked people world-wide and was banned, burned and bought up right and left. Now Madonna lives in a freakin' castle in England. Ann Coulter IS a Saturday Night Live skit. She grew up in a conservative Northeastern setting. She's actually MUCH smarter than she seems. She has a law degree and didn't just barely gradgiate with a D+, she was at the top of her class. She worked in Corporate law. She worked for a Congressman. So what is the common thread? Slick marketing. Lawyers, corporations and politicians thrive on slick marketing.

There are no quotes I can find attributed to Ann Coulter prior to 1997. That was nine years ago. She is forty-five years old. It took her nearly thirty-five years of her life to find out the hot buttons to push. She would have had plenty of intolerant, bigoted, nor'eastern women to study in her conservative Connecticut town. And, she would have had plenty of examples in the corporate and political world of how to pander to the masses. How to get Joe Everyman to buy your product or vote for you.

Apparently, she had leaned conservative all of her life, but a lot of upper middle class blond heiresses from the Eastern seaboard follow their daddy's opinion, so that's not really news. She was editor of her college newspaper. You'd think that if she always had a penchant for crazy, off the wall, foot-in-mouth statements, someone would have turned up one or two prior to 1997. She would have had the perfect opportunity as editor of a college newspaper to give her opinion about any and everything.

However, it took her until her mid thirties to really find her stride. And, she had a perfect role-model: President Clinton. Clinton had an approval rating somewhere around 60%, even during his impeachment hearings. The economy was booming. Things were good in the mid-1990's. However, ask ANYONE and they HATED Clinton. They LOVED to HATE Clinton. He was a smooth-talking, slick politician from the South--the worst kind. He'll shake your hand with one hand and pick your pocket with the other. There was an entire industry built on hating Clinton--the conservative radio talk-show host. Rush Limbaugh, in particular, but also Bill O'Reilly and others became superstars during the Clinton administration hating anything and everything Liberal. How far could you push the envelope? How nutso could you get and still get people to buy your book and pay you to write columns and be on TV? Ann Coulter would find out.

Ann Coulter got her debut on the public stage during the Paula Jones/Bill Clinton trial and saw how easy it was to manipulate people via the media. She wove a web of deceit and then sat back in the middle of her web and waited. It worked. She then invented the Ann Coulter we all know and love today, drawing on her knowledge of law, politics, and the "vain, empty-headed bigots with braces on their brains" [Auntie Mame] that she knew from her youth in Connecticut.

Needless to say, it has been wildly successful. She just launched a new book a couple of days ago, is all over the media, and bought nearly a $2 million dollar home last year. She is a Grand Dame straight out of LA Law, Boston Legal, The West Wing, Melrose Place, 90210, or any other show you can name with a character you LOVE to HATE. You tune in regularly to see what will happen next. And, in this case, Ann Coulter and her stock brokers can't thank you enough.

I always admire when someone so clearly manipulates the public and walks away with a buttload of money. I always thought Madonna was a genius in her own right for that. She always reinvented herself in a way that added a few million to her bank account while keeping her in the papers and on TV. Ann Coulter learned from the best. I haven't had a marketing class in quite a while, but they definitely need to study folks like Ann Coulter and Madonna who manipulate people like pieces on a chessboard and then sit back and reap the rewards.

Ann Coulter is my hero.

Biblical Marriage for Real

2006-06-05T23:28:00.000-06:00

This is taken directly from the Atheism/Agnosticism page on About.com. As far as I know, it is the intellectual property of Austin Cline and Public Nuisance. The link to that page is provided below, but I couldn't improve upon it, so I quoted it directly.

Biblical Marriage
Much of the opposition to same-sex marriages is fundamentally religious in nature. Evangelical Christians argue that marriage between two members of the same sex is, from their perspective, simply invalid - and therefore civil marriage law should conform to their ideas on what marriage is. But what, exactly, would a real biblical marriage look like?

Public Nuisance offers us a good idea by creating a Constitutional Amendment on marriage that reflects what the Bible says:

1. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives.

2. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden.

3. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce.

4. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law.

Do you suppose that anyone will go for it? No, I don't think so either... people are certainly free to believe in the validity of requirements like the above, but almost no one believes that such requirements should be imposed by the government and become a part of civil law. They are, quite simply, religious laws which citizens must be free to ignore if they wish.

http://atheism.about.com/b/a/020019.htm?nl=1

JFC wristbands

2006-06-04T20:44:00.000-06:00

Ok, so it's been over two months since I've posted an update. I've been working on an online training manual for my department at work, and that has taken up most of my time. I don't update my blog from home, so it's has just sat by and waited. Good old Beekman Place.

I read the frickin' news every day and I can't believe the people and politicians in this country keep letting the administration get by with what they do. Especially with the recent charges of mass-murder by the marines in Iraq. AArgh. And today I read this quote:

"It [gay marriage] [is] the one issue I have seen that eclipses even the abortion issue among Southern Baptists," says Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Ok, how about war? How about corruption? How about global warming? How about civil liberties? How about the poor? How about HIV/AIDS?

Jesus Fucking Christ. I'm going to get a bracelet that says just that. Jesus Fucking Christ.

So, apparently hacking the heads off of heathens and playing soccer with them is not such a big deal, but if those same two heathens hold hands, then Armageddon will begin and the beast will rise from the sea.

I think the BIG GAY GOP FEAR FACTOR says it all.

It scares the hell out of me how intent these religious assholes are in making sure they are the only ones with any rights left in America.

It seems as though all sorts of groups are talking, talking, talking about the administration and whether Bush is doing illegal things, but no one seems to be doing anything about it. I can only hope that the negativity goes through the November elections and the Democrats sweep Congress with a 75% majority or more. That's the only way anything is going to happen, because apparently the Democrats have become so spineless that many of them (Clinton, Lieberman) are still supporting the President.

I guess until then, we will just have to settle for tossing Bush around.

Hitler and Bush

2006-03-13T22:22:00.000-06:00

A lot has been said about parallels between Bush and Hitler. Of course, there are significant differences, as there would be with any two historical leaders. If you compared Bush to William the conqueror, nay-sayers would say, "Yes, but Bush didn't have to contend with Harald of England, so you can't really compare the two!" while overlooking any actual similarities. The same can be true of Bush and Hitler. There are some similarities between the two. Ok, so Bush doesn't have millions of Jews in concentration camps. In 1933, Hitler didn't either. One of the comparisons that is starkly real is FEAR ("terruh"). In fact, there is a new book about the use of fear in politics, especially as used by Nazi Germany.

And what the hell is the deal with this? South Whidbey High School in Langley, Va, banned t-shirts that had the names of fallen soldiers because it may possibly cause a distraction. Oohh. a distraction. I'm glad it's getting national attention and the ACLU is all over this.

And why is the New York Times a couple of years later? This memo broke at least a year or two ago. There's even a website about it. I'm glad the crackerjack reporters at the New York Times were all over this one. It's nice that our media can report stories when it is popular to do so, instead of when the news actually comes out. Maybe the national media will soon start to report that mush MIGHT have lied about the reasons to go to war with Iraq.

And the current debate about immigration in Washington is definitely polarizing people. Hispanic voters are much-courted voters in many precincts, anyway, and vote largely Democrat, I believe. If the democrats support this bill, that large section of the population may slip through their fingers. If the Democrats came out in full opposition to this bill, they could potentially lock in a huge section of the population for the primaries in May and the general elections in November. But, apparently the Democrats don't want to take any type of stand that might piss off even one person in the entire country, so it's best just to go along with whatever the Republicans want. I'm glad the Hispanic community is so organized that half a million people can demonstrate (peacefully, by the way). But, largely I think it just serves two purposes, not at all related to immigration. It satisfies the "core Republican" that the Republican party stands for reform and wants to protect American against a forms of attack--terrorism AND immigration (neither a terrorist or a damn Mexican is gonna take away your job on MY watch!) and it serves to distract the core voter from the war in Iraq and the growing voice for impeachment.

I'm so disgusted with the news that I read it all the time, but I can barely bother myself to comment on it. The news media is so biased and out of touch with typical attitudes that it's almost laughable. I almost read CNN and others to see what they DON'T report on. I can't even make myself read any news from Iraq. It's all so horrible and unnecessary that I just skip over it. It's all car bombs and dead soldiers. And why? We all know, so I'm not going to beat a dead horse. I just can't for the life of me figure out why the Democratic party has been so effectively neutered that they can't say boo about what the Republicans do.

Bush's approval rating is the lowest of any president this century except for Nixon, and he had to resign the presidency. Clinton's was nearly DOUBLE what Bush's is WHEN THEY IMPEACHED HIM. Feingold introduces a bill for CENSURE and the Democratic party pretty much pretends he doesn't even exist. The congressmen wouldn't even admit that they had heard of it to the press. And the same week, a poll came out that said that over 50% of people would support IMPEACHMENT if Bush lied about the reasons for going to war with Iraq. It would be nice to find a government that represented the people. I'm sure the citizens of Iraq feel the same way.

At least one group of representatives is trying to take on the Electoral College system. They are trying to change the laws state-by-state, not to abolish the Electoral College, but to enact laws that make the Electorates cast their vote for the candidate who wins the popular vote NATIONALLY. I think this is a good first step. And, states have control over how their Electorates cast their vote, so it is a movement that can snowball into something larger. Legislation has already been introduced to reform laws in Illinois. I hope it will move on from there.

I guess Encyclopedia Brittanica isn't looking forward to outsourcing jobs to India. They want the magazine Nature to retract an article that Wikipedia is as accurate as Brittanica. However, as the author of this article points out, Wikipedia is free, Brittanica costs $12 a month. Given that I already pay for Internet access at home, I'll opt for the free version. I think it would be worth the time and expense for schools and libraries to pay for the access, but home users just don't need it. And, Wikipedia users can mark disputed entries and discuss why they dispute them. Can I do the same with Brittanica? Nature found 4 "serious" errors in Brittanica articles, but I'm betting there weren't any tags from the public on them that they might be wrong.

I think I mentioned this before, but there are even more reasons to hate Wal-mart here.

Also, attorney-client privilege doesn't apply to those suspected of colluding with Al-Qaeda. All of my doctors were Indian for my surgery. Dr. Daher, Dr. Sudan, and a lot of other doctors with long names (including Dr. Sexy-hair, but that's another story). You gotta love the Justice Department.

Apparently, 85% of people believe in global warming. I wonder if they also believe in evolution and gravity?

Civic Governments Listening to the People

2006-03-13T04:37:00.000-06:00

Several civic governments have passed resolutions to impeach Bush. The San Francisco city council. The Ann Arbor Democratic Party. The Arcata, California city council. The Santa Cruz city council passed a resolution against the war in Iraq. The New York city council passed a resolution condemning the Patriot Act. The Berkeley, California city council passed a resolution for impeachment. The Jersey City city council passed a resolution against the war in Iraq. The Sacramento, California city council passed a resolution calling for the withdrawl of American troops in Iraq. Davis, California residents passed a similar resolution. No less than FIVE Vermont towns approved resolutions calling for Bush's impeachment. More than half of those polled would call for impeachment if Bush lied about the reasons for going to war. Dozens more examples of folks calling for impeachment are listed on Wikipedia. Yet, no action is being taken by our federal elected officials.

None of these resolutions were passed by federal agencies. They are all local governments, so they essentially have no authority over the president. So, why do it at all? I think it sends a message to Congressmen that, even though they are powerless to act, they can at least make their voice heard. It's very clear that none of our elected leaders are actually acting for the will of the people. Republicans are actually still defending Bush and his policies. In fact, earlier today, Brill Frist said, "The American people are solidly behind this president in conducting this war on terror." He doesn't address the resolutions mentioned above, and would brush them off as incidental, I'm sure.

Science by Vote

2006-03-08T21:20:00.000-06:00

I have been so disgusted with the way things have been going in politics, I haven't even been able to update my blog. A few times, I have had to stop reading the news entirely and play a nice game, like shooting zombies or something. But, there are some stories in today's news that I want to comment on, so I figured this would be a good time to write an update.

"I Never Studied Law"
When Elmer Fudd chased Bugs Bunny out of the hollow log, Elmer plunges to the ground while Bugs Bunny hovers in mid-air. Bugs announces to the viewing audience that the Law of Gravity doesn't apply to him because he never studied Law. I thought this was very clever when I was little and always wondered if it would work if one wasn't actually aware of the Law of Gravity. Unfortunately, one doesn't have to be aware of the Law of Gravity to be affected by it. However, this does not apply to all spheres of science. You can now just take a vote to see if science should apply. Basically, the Gallup poll blatantly states that old, uneducated Republicans reject the Theory of Evolution outright, despite the "preponderance of scientific evidence." Those numbers decline if you are young, Democrat or have more than a high-school level education. I think this should be expanded to other areas of science. We might be able to rewrite human experience by voting on what is real and what isn't. "Perception is reality." So, let's vote on whether nuclear fission is real or not. Let's all vote that there is no scientific evidence for HIV or AIDS, and maybe it will just go away. I heartily vote that there is absolutely no connection between smoking, fried foods, stress and heart attacks, therefore I am immune to heart disease.

Wal-ocaust
Here is local coverage of a national story. An Atlanta man is making t-shirts that parody the Wal-Mart logo. He has been given a cease-and-desist order by Wal-Mart to help prevent the production of said t-shirts. I certainly hope they fail. If the judge looks at the t-shirts as a parody, then there is a precedent that parodies are protected by freedom of speech. I also seriously doubt that selling a handful of t-shirts will bring any harm to what is the world's largest employer. I might buy a few t-shirts before they are not available any longer. I encourage everyone to do so as well. This article on Alternet further details the "evils" of Wal-Mart. I remember the company that "Rocko's Modern Life" that Mr. Bighead worked for was "Conglomo." Their motto was "We own you." Pretty soon you'll be able to buy yourself at Wal-Mart.

Chevroford Earth Destroyer 3000

2006-02-20T01:43:00.000-06:00

I can tell you the Chevroford Earth Destroyer 3000 isn't my idea. It's a combination of something I saw on a comedy television show and something I saw in a political cartoon. I can't specifically name which one of either, but I can tell you it isn't my original idea. However, it has become my favorite vehicle. The style and features may change from year to year, but the old favorite remains the same. The Chevroford Earth Destroyer 3000 is the world's largest SUV. It gets between 3 and 4 miles per gallon, and comes with the Saudi Royal Family Seal of Approval. It's also the hottest must-have vehicle ever, even more popular than the Hummer or the Explorer. It's good to know that for those doctors and lawyers that ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO DRIVE AN EARTH DESTOYER 3000 (or a Hummer) to work every day, the federal government has made THOUSANDS of dollars in tax breaks available to them. Isn't it nice to know that Bush can lie right to your face during the State of the Union speech, as well? I just about spit milk through my nose when I heard him say we were addicted to oil and we needed to reduce our dependence on the Middle East. Two things are 100% true about his presidency, if nothing else. 1) He, his family, and most of his cabinet have made millions of dollars off of Middle East oil and they're not about to make any changes now. Bush said he planned to reduce our dependance on oil by 2025 because by that time he and everyone he knows will be so rich they won't know what to do with it all and it won't matter any more. And 2) Bush's presidency wouldn't even have made it into the history books if it hadn't been for the "Middle East." Without Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, G. W. Bush would be as memorable as President Ford or President Taft.

Surveillance Society
When those of us who read 1984 in junior high were reading about Big Brother being able to see what everyone was doing at all times, many of us blew it off as something that would never happen in our society. After all, we knew what the future looked like: it looked like Star Trek. People weren't looking over your shoulder, monitoring your every move. Your civil liberties will still be protected, even in the year 2400. However, the world after 9/11 has a much different look. People everywhere are seeing more and more video cameras go up around them, and many people defend them as necessary to stop crime. The tell us they are "for our own good." Those four little words can lead to a world of hurt for those of us who think people should have more freedoms, not less. In Chicago, for example, the mayor wants video cameras up around bar and restaurants that stay open late, for our own good, naturally. A classic quote from this article, from Chicago Alderman Ray Suarez, says, "If you're not doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about?" Well, my main worry is not so much what I think I am doing wrong, but what YOU think I am doing wrong. It's for my own good, naturally. Sadly, the Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said exactly the same thing in this article about video surveillance in Houston.

Hotel Hijinks
I talked about this a while back. The hotel industry pays notoriously low wages for their on-property staff. The front desk, housekeepers, waitstaff, etc. make extremely low wages, oftentimes for hotels that charge more per night than I pay a month in rent. Some positions can justify it because the employee is expected to receive tips, such as doormen, porters and waiters and waitresses. Some positions, such as front desk staff, are really the "front lines" in a hotel. They are the face of the hotel, the staff the guest most likely remembers most. However, they are among some of the lowest-paid employees in the industry. Evidently, John Edwards want to change that. There are a few things about my particular part of the hotel industry that I disagree with, such as lowering our raise percentages after 9/11 and never putting them back to pre-9/11 rates, but I really don't think the reservation-side of the hotel industry needs to unionize. However, I completely understand the desire for hotel employees to want to do it. Let's be honest: it's pretty common knowledge that hotel rely on under-educated minority employees to work in the laundry, to clean the rooms, to hand out towels by the pool, etc. Ultimately, any costs of unionization felt by the parent company would be passed on to the guest, anyway, but hotels don't want to have to do that. Marriott fights against unionization very, very vigorously. Once in a while, a hotel staff will go on strike, but we will have little or no information about it. There are legitimate business reasons. Management doesn't want the reservation agents gossiping about it with guests and possibly driving business away by giving a bad impression of the hotel. But any information we get is most definitely management-centric. As I mentioned before, some of the tactics Marriott used a few years ago when there some scuttle about unionization here at the reservation center almost bordered on illegal. I know upper management would never actually do anything illegal just to squash unionization attempts, but some of the lower-level managers, in their zeal to tow the corporate line, probably said some things or made some "off the cuff" policies that may have bordered on infringing peoples right to collective bargaining. It is definitely something for me to be aware of, working in the industry I do, and I will definitely keep an eye on the tactic used here if the topic ever comes up again. It will be interesting to see how Edwards fares with this venture.

Cheney Shoots, Manson Scores

2006-02-13T00:55:00.000-06:00

Army of None
If you want to see something that will make you heartbroken and angry, check out MilitaryCity.com. This has every confirmed casualty from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Over 2,500 men and women dead for no good reason. Many have photographs and copies of the story of their death was reported in the news. I think a lot more people should be angry and upset that so many people are dying for nothing. I think there should be more lawsuits against the Pentagon or the government for not protecting the troops. Soldiers are just now beginning to get the proper body armor they should have had all along.
Now, there are reports that the Pentagon has successfully tested a vehicle to help eliminate IEDs, but it is tied up in red tape and none have been shipped to Iraq.

Cheney Shoots, He Scores!
Of course, to top news right now is that Dick Cheney accidentally shot someone while hunting. Boy is his face red!

I'd Buy That For An Allah
I love it that the cartoons of Muhammad that were in the Danish newspaper are now on t-shirts. Their motto should be "pissing off Muslims worldwide." I also wanted one of these Mayor Nagin and the Chocolate City t-shirts, where he looked like Willy Wonka. Their "conservative" t-shirts are a little stoopid. Especially the one that says that if you believe Bush lied about the WMDs, then you have to believe everyone else lied. No, they were basing their decision on the intelligence that Bush provided to us. Here's my analogy:

Bob tells you that the new store at the mall has the best prices on widgets in the city, but you'd better buy them soon before they sell out. He's never seen prices so low. You tell all of your friends about the lowest price widgets in the city. You and all your friends buy widgets from the store. Later, you find out that the the store actually charges double for their widgets that other stores do. You also find out that Bob lied about the price because he was in cahoots with the owner to drum up business. You go back and tell your friends that Bob lied and you now regret paying too much for your widgets and wish you could return it. Does everyone say, "well, if Bob lied, that makes you a liar, too. Sue believed you and told Margaret, so that makes Sue a liar, too. Margaret believed Sue and told John, so that makes Margaret a liar, too."

That's not a logical chain of thought because everyone was basing their belief about the widgets based on one man: Bob. He is the one that lied and you and your friends recognize that you passed on misinformation based on his lie. That's how it is with the members of Congress that now regret voting for war based on Bush's claim that Iraq was supplying the world with terrorists and had chemical or nuclear weapons posed to go off any minute. He had charts, graphs, aerial photos of factories, testimony from Chalabi, and the full backing of Tony Blair. So, we all believed his lie about the widgets and plunked our money down. Now, we regret the decision. Period.

"Remember What the Doormouse Said: Feed Your Head, Feed Your Head"
Marilyn Manson has announced he is going to make a movie about Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson). Carroll was weirdo and the movie should be great. Didn't Carroll smoke opium or something?

Give Me Your Rich and Well-Armored, Yearning to Go Overseas
Here's an op-ed piece about how ridiculous Bush's budget proposal is. It cuts billions of dollars from Medicare, Medicaid, other social services and student loans. This is just after Bush said that we need more math and science teachers. I hope all of the elderly Republicans that voted for him are pissed off.

Cartoon Cartoon

2006-02-10T00:55:00.000-06:00

Here's a cartoon about Christians and Muslims by Tom McMahon. And he has a right to express his opinion.

I had a long post written up about the cartoon issue and when I went to post it, the site was down and I lost it all. I haven't felt like putting all that effort back into creating another posting about it until now. Especially since a Muslim Dutch Member of Parliament came out supporting the Danish newspaper. She is really an ex-Muslim who is very critical of Islam, and I happen to agree with her. The rioting Muslims around the world need to be given a loud and resounding united message: that you cannot use YOUR religious doctrines to squash MY civil liberties. What if we insisted that they conform to Jewish laws? Granted, it may not be too much different since they are two branches of the same tree, but I'm sure there are Jewish laws that Muslims don't agree with. Here is her personal blog.
One thing I haven't heard anyone talk about yet is the historical context of the prohibition against images of Mohammed. Who set it? What time period was it set in? At that time, virtually the only reason for creating an image of a human was to make a religious figurine or icon. This would have been in direct violation of Islamic, Jewish and Christian laws. But now, we have the capability of being able to create images of people that are NOT icons. No one seriously thinks that if you take a photograph of Nancy Reagan that people are going to automatically begin praying to her because she has an image of her captures on paper. A cartoon is the same thing. There is no way a caricature can be compared to an icon created for religious worship. No one is making that distinction--that the rule is stupid in the first place. Some people are making the case that religious taboos can't dominate secular liberties. Iran threatened to create satirical cartoons of the Holocaust. First of all, their president said the Holocaust never happened, but even if it did, there's nothing wrong with a cartoon about it. I think European papers need to beat them to the punch and publish their own cartoons about the Holocaust. Just to show what freedom of press and freedom of speech means. We absolutely cannot cow-tow to religious fanatics in this case. Some people believe that the European countries "blinked" when the Muslims around the world began rioting. I disagree. Europe hasn't blinked yet. The riots are just an example of terrorists taking more hostages to get the West to do what they want. This time, the hostages are dollars in the form of business and assets instead of people. The terrorists will "give back" the business and stop torching the embassies when Western governments ban pictures of Mohammed and apologize for the insult. I hope this solidifies the West in their uniform decision to just say "no" to terroristic threats on our civil liberties. We've been letting Bush whittle away at them for five years now, we don't need to curb them because someone in another country doesn't think they fit in with HIS religious perspective.

Here is a good narrative of the values of Danes, as observed by a Canadian who married one.
Here's a timeline of the cartoon controversy from CBC news.
Here's proof that an Egyptian newspaper printed the cartoons in October, 2005, and there was no protest or outrage.

I officially demand that every newspaper in the world print the cartoons on the front page immediately. I would be willing to exempt the Arab newspapers, of course. Historically, Communism is atheist. There are large protests planned in Hong Kong. I love this quote:

Khan Muhammad Malik, vice-chairman of the Islamic Federation of Hong Kong, said
he had wept at the portrayal of the Prophet.
"We love the Prophet more than our family, more than money, more than life itself," he said. "All we want is for our religion to be treated with the same respect as others."

And, here's an op-ed that asks fellow Muslims to lighten up and points out many of the inconsistencies in the arguments of the Arab governments condemning the cartoons.

Here's a rather intelligent op-ed on a website written by an Iranian that brings up the great point that not allowing cartoons of Mohammed is in itself creating a form of idolatry of him by exempting him from being portrayed, but allowing cartoons of Mary, Jesus and God (point #5).
Point #6 also points out that the governments of western nations are not responsible for the information printed in newspapers, since the media is not stat-owned.

There are a few other points that are not readily taken into consideration:
1) The cartoons were not protested against until December, when a group of Danish Muslims went around the Middle East showing the 12 cartoons that were printed in Denmark, along with additional, more inflammatory cartoons that were not among the originals. These men should be hunted down as terrorists and held responsible for the deaths that have occurred from their actions.
2) As mentioned above, the cartoons were printed in Egypt in October with no violent protests.
3) There is no actual ban on a cartoon of Mohammed anywhere is Islam. It is tradition not to portray him, but not Islamic law.
4) There is no way a sensible human would confuse a cartoon with an icon. Lacking a crucifix, a priest would not grab a piece of notebook paper, draw a cartoon of Christ, and tape it above the altar.

I Hope They Don't Have TV In Mexico

2006-02-01T00:08:00.000-06:00

Goodbye, Coretta
With any luck, Coretta Scott King was too "out" of it to see any television today, or she would have seen Samuel Alito voted onto the Supreme Court before she passed away today. She would have seen the beginning of the end of civil liberties her husband fought for half a century ago. She would have seen that privileged, wealthy white men rule the universe after all. With any luck, Coretta Scott King passed from this earth without seeing any of that today and can finally join her husband in a place where his dreams become reality.

I Live in a Red State

2006-01-31T00:04:00.000-06:00

Betrayed by Our Own
One of the advantages of living in a Red State is that you don't have to worry about who's a Democrat and who's a Republican. All of the Congressional representatives from my state are Republicans, even the Democrats. For example, one of our senators is a Democrat: Ben Nelson. Prior to today, he was one of four Democrats that publicly announced support for Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court nominee. In fact, eighteen of the Democrats in the Senate ended up voting to force a vote for Alito on Tuesday. It's amazing to me that everyone keeps saying how Alito wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, expand presidential powers, and reign in those "out of control" civil rights that everyone seems to be taking advantage of. But when it comes down to it, not even the democrats will stand up and vote "no". I guess we'll see tomorrow who actually votes for him. I'll laugh my ass off if they forced a vote today and secretly have enough votes to turn down his appointment. That would be a terrific message to send to Bush on the day of his State of the Union address.

A while back, I e-mailed Ben Nelson and Chuck Hagel, asking them to vote "no" on Alito. Obviously, both of them voted "yes." Hagel didn't reply at all. Here is Nelson's e-mail reply:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to serve as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. I value your input on this important judicial nomination.

As you know, Judge Alito was nominated to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has announced her intent to resign upon confirmation of her successor. I-like you and other Americans of all political and judicial philosophies-recognize the importance of this nomination.

With the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings completed, I have decided to vote in favor of Judge Alito to serve as the 110th Justice of the United States Supreme Court. I came to this decision after careful consideration of his impeccable judicial credentials, the American Bar Association's strong recommendation, and his pledge that he would not bring a political agenda to the Court.

I understand your concerns regarding Judge Alito and his views on the judicial issues which will affect Americans for years to come. I believe the duty of judges is to adjudicate based on fact, law, and precedent without regard for personal ideology. I take Judge Alito at his word that he shares my view of the role of a Supreme Court Justice: that the role of judges is to balance the scales of justice, not to be activists and legislators.

Once again, thank you for contacting me. While we disagree on this particular nomination, I sincerely appreciated hearing your opinion and hope you will continue to share your views in the future.

Sincerely,

Ben Nelson
U.S. Senator

Well, we all know he's going to bring his (and Bush's) political agenda to the Court. That's why so many he was nominated and so many liberals and civil rights groups were against him. Get your abortions now, folks, you won't have the opportunity much longer.

Gonzales Knew
And, speaking of Bush, apparently Attorney General Gonzales may have known about the wiretaps when he testified in front of a Senate Judiciary Committee in January, 2005. I hope he is pressed on the issue. The Democrats don't seem to be showing much initiative to follow through with their threats recently.

Jim Jones up for Sainthood
I can't believe this is legitimate news. If any other religion proclaimed to have found a "miracle" that one of their religious leaders performed, it would be printed in the "wacky news." Let me rewrite this article and see what you think:

JONESTOWN (Jan. 30) - The People's Temple may have found the "miracle" they need to put the late Father Jim Jones one step closer to sainthood -- the medically inexplicable healing of a French "sister" with the same Parkinson's disease that afflicted him.
Brother Slawomir Oder, the People's Temple official in charge of promoting the cause to declare the late Father a saint of the Temple, told Reuters on Monday that an investigation into the healing had cleared an initial probe by doctors. Oder said the "relatively young" Sister, whom he said he could not identify for now, was inexplicably cured of Parkinson's after praying to Jones.
"I was moved," Oder said in a telephone interview. "To think that this was the same illness that destroyed the Holy Father and it also kept this poor Sister from carrying out her work."
Jim Jones suffered from Parkinson's Disease during the last decade of his life. His body trembled violently and he could not pronounce his words or control his facial muscles.
"To me, this is another sign of God's creativity," he said, adding that the Sister worked with children. He said Temple investigators would now start a more formal and detailed probe of the suspected miracle cure. The process that could lead to sainthood for Jones began in May when Jonestown archdiocese published an edict asking the Faithful to come forward with evidence "in favor or against" Jones' reputation of holiness. One proven miracle is required after Jones' death for the cause to lead to beatification. It must be the result of prayers asking the dead Father to intercede with God. Miracles are usually a physical healing that doctors are at a loss to explain. Another miracle would be necessary between beatification and eventual sainthood. Oder said his office had received many messages from Faithful around the world claiming that they had got what they wanted after having prayed to Jones after he died.
He said his office had also received many letters and e-mails from people claiming they had been miraculously cured or otherwise helped with a serious problem after praying to the Father even while he was alive. But under Temple rules, only those "miracles" which occurred after the Father's death can be investigated and eventually used as proof of holiness. The month after Jones died, Brother Benedict dispensed with Temple rules and put him on the fast track to sainthood. Benedict waived rules that impose a five-year waiting period after a candidate's death before the procedure that leads to sainthood can start. The quick start means Jones could be beatified and so declared a "blessed of the Temple" within a few years if a miracle can be attributed to his intercession with God. The crowds at Jones' funeral on April 8 chanted "Santo Subito" (Make him a saint now!).
Oder said he and other members of the investigating team were convinced that Jones "is already a saint" but he could not say how long the bureaucratic procedure could take. In past centuries, the saint-making procedure has often been long and expensive but many Faithful believe that Jones' life of suffering and service was clear to all. Many of the people who knew or worked with Jones are alive. This could speed up the case significantly because witnesses would be readily available to testify.

Ok, now THAT'S just creepy! But I think it illustrates my point. Written about the Pope, the article isn't anything special, but changed a little so that it makes you think about what it is actually saying, you see how ridiculous it all is. And, I hope they take into account all of the deaths from AIDS in Africa that can be directly linked to the Pope's prohibition of using condoms. Millions of people dead because of that one man. He may have murdered more people than anyone in history, including Hitler or Stalin. And yet Catholics want to beatify him. The sad thing is, Jim Jones is declared a monster because he convinced 900-some odd people to commit suicide quickly. However, John Paul convinced thousands or millions to commit suicide slowly and painfully, and he is considered worthy of sainthood. So long as I live, I will NEVER understand organized religion. In fact, when Li Hongzhi claimed that an elderly female follower began menstruating again, his claim was labeled "bizarre."
And, why is Showtime afraid of Scientology?

Not News Again
Again, this is not really news. Ted Koppel says that news agencies are more interested in profits than news. Well, duh. Most media outlets are owned by ten huge corporations. I think with the proliferation of the Internet, most 'zines have gone by the wayside. Once corporations figure out how to limit ownership of URL's online, the Internet will be limited to what is profitable and controlled by corporations also. Foreign governments already control a lot of what if published and viewed in those countries.

Muslims Hate Norwegians
Muslim attacks on Danes and Norwegians have intensified. This is a result of a Danish newspaper printing twelve cartoons of Mohammed. Images of the prophet are considered blasphemous by Muslims, but apparently violence against people is not. It's too bad there aren't any Vikings left. I'd like to see Ignar the Horrible row up in a Longboat and go berserk on their ass.

Do This, Don't Do That, Can't You Read the Signs?
The Patriot Act just keeps getting scarier and scarier. Back in the Day, you could protest whatever you wanted. If you got arrested, you typically stood to get fined or possibly spend the night in jail. Now, you could end up in federal prison for violating designated "secure areas," whether anyone of any importance is there or not. Who would do the arresting? Why the Department of Homeland Security's uniformed police force, of course. What, you've never heard of them? That's because it's another provision of the Patriot Act. I wrote about it a few days ago, but here is the link again. They would be

"empowered to make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony."

Wow, that sounds bad.

Ok, let me run this down.

1) The Bush/Cheney administration has exercised broad, sometimes extreme, Executive powers under the reasoning that he is waging a "war on terror."
2) So far, but with a few delays, the Senate either endlessly debates minutiae or just ends up doing what the president wants.
3) With Alito's approval, the president may have a quorum on the Supreme Court, so that if he gets sued by and liberal wackos and it goes all the way to the Supreme Court, it gets squashed pretty quickly.
4) The president, though the DoHS, will be in charge of not only the military, which has restrictions on what they are allowed to do on US soil, but also a federal police force, which would have the power to make warrantless arrests of anyone for "any offense against the United States." (Again, I submit to you that the abbreviation for the Secret Service would be the "SS".)
One of the guys who introduced the Patriot Act even regrets it and admits that it gives the government too much power.

I suppose they would be deemed "enemy combatants" and held indefinitely without trial, as well. This just gets scarier and scarier. And, with all the conspiracy theories about 9/11, such as this (also refuted here), the world is a scary place to live in. As soon as I get paid, I'm joining the ACLU.

If It Doesn't Fit, You Must Acquit

2006-01-27T00:46:00.000-06:00

Or, in this case, if you can't find any photographic proof of Bush with Abramoff, it never happened.

Something is (not) Rotten in Denmark
This is something I haven't heard anything about, and I consider myself fairly well-read. Apparently, the Muslim world has declared war on Denmark for 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. This has been going on for months. Unfortunately, it has taken an economic turn in the Middle East, but I applaud the Danish government for stating they have no control over what is essentially a freedom of speech issue. This is a fundamental difference between Islam and the rest of the world: most Western countries have separation of Church and State, but that idea is so completely foreign to Muslims, they can't understand why the government wouldn't censure the media over a religious issue when asked. That is why societies that do not separate Church and State will never truly have any freedoms. That's why Hamas was elected to the Palestinian Parliament and why there will never, ever be peace in Israel unless they manage to become a secular society. I haven't yet found pictures of the cartoons online, but I'm still looking.

Bush Destroys New Orleans Again
Now the White House has "(withheld) support from a major Congressional reconstruction plan" for New Orleans. But, remember Bush's speech from New Orleans in September? He said, "Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives." Obviously it was a ploy to help boost his sagging approval rating. "Congress had cleared $60 billion of funds to be spent on the reconstruction effort, he said, and more would be forthcoming," but this January, 25th article states that Congress has only appropriated $6.2 billion, only 1/10th of what was earlier reported. Are we surprised? Sadly, no.

Dennis Rodman Signs One-Game Deal
"Rodman, who on Wednesday was evicted from the Celebrity Big Brother show, will face Guildford Heat at the Brighton Triangle on Saturday." I didn't know Dennis Rodman was on Celebrity Big Brother UK this season. George Galloway was, too, but both have been evicted. I would like to have seen those episodes.

The Gross Factor
Ok, this is just disgusting. This scorpion lived inside a plaster mold for 15 months and then crawled out when it was opened! The scientist had a clearer frame of mind than I would have had. I would have crushed the little booger.

Income Inequality
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. That's not new news, but a couple of reports confirm it. Bush and his administration have unleashed an unrelenting and unapologetic attack on the middle and lower classes. It's almost comical how unbalanced his policies have been toward the wealthy. Until you view it from the bottom up, then it just becomes scary. At least the Republicans used to PRETEND that their policies were going to help the lower classes (remember how they tried to feed us Reaganomics? "If you make me richer, you'll eventually benefit from it because I'll buy more stuff and spend more money. You can manufacture my yacht, cook my food, clean my house, scrub my toilets, and park my car, mostly for minimum wage. See what a good economic policy this is?") I've been saying this for a while:

He also notes that when wealthier families see their incomes rise at a faster pace than everyone else, their spending can create what he calls an "expenditure cascade." That is, the demand for bigger and better homes or safer cars can create new standards for those lower down on the economic scale.
But since their incomes aren't growing as fast, they have a hard time keeping up, leading to what Frank calls "welfare loss." For example, as home prices rise, it becomes harder to afford a home in a neighborhood with good public schools.

A home isn't the only thing. What about when your son or daughter wants a new iPod ($300) and you make $7.00 an hour and barely pay for groceries? What about a new computer ($400-$1,200) to download songs, play PC games, burn DVDs, chat online, etc., like the wealthier kids get to do. What about the new iPod jeans all the kids will be wearing ($200)? What about the new Air Force Ones ($80+)? What about when all TV's become digital and everyone has to spend hundreds of dollars replacing their television sets? Most premium cable channels aren't available on regular cable any more. It's considered "low class" to even have regular cable. It's posh to have "digital cable" now, and a lot of channels aren't available unless you have digital cable, but that'll cost ya double or more what basic cable costs. Internet access is almost a basic necessity now, but access via a cable modem will cost ya $45/month. Besides, you can't have dial-up if you have no home phone. Not only are working-class citizens unable to keep up with the vacations, cars, and restaurants that upper-class people enjoy, "basic" things become not-so basic. Upper class kids who enjoy game-boys, lap-tops, iPods, PSPs, in-car DVD players, PS3's, X-box 360, "multi-media" PC's, digital surround sound and remote-everything can't comprehend children of working class parents who can't afford all the creature comforts they do. Just take cars. Luxury cars have navigational systems, heated seats, cruise control, MP3 players, surround sound, tilting headlights and all sorts of James-Bond type shit that "hoopties" don't have. I know people that have never ridden in a car that has airbags. Or cruise control. Or air conditioning. When the gap between rich and poor keeps widening, "basics" like air conditioning become luxuries when you live paycheck to paycheck. Why do you think dozens of elderly die each year because of heat? They can't afford air conditioning that Sam and Suzie Suburb enjoy normally. And, if more low-income houses and apartments were fitted with 1) wind- or solar-power and 2) better insulation, we could not only reduce costs for everyone (utility costs mainly), provide better living conditions for the elderly and infant poor, reduce the strain on public money by our poorest citizens, and help reduce our need for fossil fuels. All houses on fuel assistance and all now houses need to be mandated that they have solar panels.

The Osama I Know

2006-01-26T03:39:00.000-06:00

The Osama I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader

I Can't Afford Wholefood
I always wondered why the WholeFoods Market chose Regency as the location for their one store in Omaha. Apparently, most of their stores are in affluent neighborhoods. They aren't targeting the long-haired barristas at your local coffee shop who tries to sell artwork to put himself through college but cares about the rainforest, too. No, those people don't have the disposable income to make a reliable customer base, good intentions or not. No, they are a multi-million dollar corporation targeting soccer moms and aging yuppies with a LOT of disposable income that are more than happy to waste it on products that stroke their ego.
"How can you say that my Chevroford Earth Destroyer 3000 4-Ton SUV is destroying the environment? The EPA recently upgraded it from 3 to 4 miles per gallon. I bought an organically grown cantaloupe from Guatemala, you asshole! I CARE about our environment. You WALKED to the corner market and bought tomatoes from NEBRASKA? SO WHAT?! You didn't buy them from the WHOLEFOODS MARKET!"
This article made me feel okay not to like WholeFoods. They always SEEMED a little to slick and well-packaged, but I couldn't put my finger on it until I read it. You want a reason to shop locally? How about a local grocer that actually tries to put back into the community?

The Right of Collective Bargaining
You know how you sit and daydream about things from the past? I was daydreaming today about a movement a couple of years ago by some employees here who began talk of unionizing. Now, I think certain sectors of my industry SHOULD be unionized. Front desk employees and housekeepers, for example, are routinely shit on by the public and are a couple of the lowest paid, hardest working employees in the travel industry. I don't necessarily feel that my particular corner of the travel industry needs to be unionized (although, I still disagree with reducing our raise percentages after 9/11), but I tell myself and everyone over and over that I am a firm believer in peoples' civil liberties. Among those liberties is the right of collective bargaining. No, it's not in the "Bill of Rights," but our government thought enough of it to enact the National Labor Relations Act, which gives employees certain rights when it comes to collective bargaining. All the managers were directed to tell their employees in team meetings what a bad idea unionizing would be. I can't remember exactly what was said, but there was also something about not talking about it on company time or company property, etc., which sounds dangerously close to "management coercion" to prevent unions. I'll be a lot more attentive if this issue arises in the future. I'm still reading the Act to familiarize myself with it and see if some of the boundaries were crossed in the past by management. Like I said, I'm not in any hurry to unionize my field, but I want my coworkers to be able to legally discuss it without fearing their jobs.

As if There Weren't Enough Reasons to Hate Wal-Mart
I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart quite a while ago. There are just too many reasons not to shop there any more. Don't get me wrong, I live paycheck-to-paycheck just like most Americans. However, I also recognize that shopping at Wal-Mart does not present me with enough savings to justify the low employee wages, union-busting, discrimination, child labor, and economic genocide that Wal-Mart creates for a community. Their cashiers can't afford to shop there, either.

Cronyism rears it's ugly head again
Now, Bush's cronies that fail to protect the public ("You're doing a heckuva job, Davy") can't even be bothered to testify before a Senate subcommittee. When will the Senate grow some balls and start "checking and balancing" the Executive branch? This is more and more seeming like the Roman Senate that ended up endlessly debating minor articles, while the emperor grew in power and ended up just bypassing them entirely.

Talk May Lead to Action
Thank god more than 50% of Americans polled now favor impeaching Bush for illegal wiretapping. Osama bin Laden pays attention to our public opinion polls. Hopefully our elected leaders are paying attention, too.

United States Secret Service Uniformed Division
I didn't know this. Apparently, the Patriot Act calls for the creation of a national, uniformed police force. Granted, their jurisdiction would be limited, but it's easier to take small steps and then expand them later. Isn't the abbreviation for the "Secret Service" the SS?

We all do dumb things...
but reading about dumb things other people do is especially fun. This is CNN Money's 101 Dumbest Moments in Business.

Bush's Spin Machine Winds Down

2006-01-24T03:25:00.000-06:00

Well, not really winding down, but it is definitely spinning less smoothly than it used to. I actually had to stop posting to this blog for a while because the weight of the news was wearing on me.

Remembering John Walker Lindh (fondly)
I firmly understand why "God-fearing Christians" are confident in their faith and their patriotism. They unquestioningly accept whatever is spoon-fed to them by the powers-that-be. I remember the outrage and indignation I had that anyone would actually defect to the Taliban, as in the case of John Walker Lindh. I watched and read the news. I remember when the Taliban took over in 1996. I remember the subjugation of the media. I remember when they blew up the Buddha statues. But the mood and the press at the time did a fine job of making John Walker Lindh a focal point for all our hatred and anger from 9/11. Hell, there wasn't anyone else to focus on, and Saddam Hussein wasn't implicated in the least, so the un-American traitor who fell from Heaven (America) and joined Satan (Osama bin Laden) and his Legions from Hell (Taleban) was easy to digest at the time. I'm sure people reading newspaper accounts of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg felt the same way.
The only thing is, the true story, as told by John's father, is much simpler and much, much less diabolical. If you or I or any of our friends were Muslim (and our parents apparently could endlessly support our studying internationally), we could have found ourselves in the same situation John did.

Remembering William Jefferson Clinton (fondly)
I don't think Bill Clinton and the world get enough credit for their efforts to stop al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden prior to 9/11/01. Remember the embassy bombings in Africa in 1998? It was during the HEIGHT of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Bill Clinton immediately retaliated against al Qaeda strongholds, but was lambasted by the media. This was just a couple of years after the movie Wag the Dog came out, about the president creating a fake war to take the heat off of him fondling a little girl. Read these comments from the BBC news website. See how many people thought there was no justification in attacking the al Qaeda strongholds? In fact, the UN imposed sanctions against Afghanistan because they were harboring Osama bin Laden and he was known to be the leader of al Qaeda and responsible for the attacks on the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. It makes a LOT more sense now, doesn't it, looking at it through the "prism of 9/11".

Remembering George W. Bush (not so fondly)
Ok, lets have a brief rundown on the wonderful news about our faithful leader this month:

Article after article about the failures of the wonderful new Medicare drug plan. It is such a fiasco that several states have delcared emergencies as thousands of people were left uncovered and under-covered.
It just isn't sinking in that his wiretaps are illegal. The White House is already preparing for impeachment hearings.
The rebuilding of Iraq was botched so badly that more money is missing than most nations have in GNP each year.
Bush declared the economy "was heading into 2006 'with a full head of steam'" two weeks ago. Now, the Nikkei and DJIA are in a tailspin. If I have anything left of my 401K at the end of the month, I'm going to kiss Bush on the lips myself.
Halliburton has been cited for knowingly giving soldiers contaminated water.
With Alito all but confirmed (and, MY senator the ONLY Democrat publicly for him!), Bush blatantly said that Roe v. Wade will be overturned (I've been telling people he wants this to be one of the biggest legacies of his presidencies for years).
Europe can't keep the fact that they knew about secret CIA kidnappings and interrogations secret any longer.
Bush is saying that Iran is preparing weapons of mass destruction, is harboring terrorists, and needs a regime change.
Bush is saying that Syria is preparing weapons of mass destruction, is harboring terrorists, and needs a regime change.
Bush wants to "ogle your google".
College education is already the domain of middle- and upper-class kids. Lower class kids already know to automatically assume they won't be able to afford college. Now, student loan interest rates are going up, the cost of books has skyrocketed, and the cost of college has outpaced inflation. Soon, only the elite will be able to afford college, just like back in the good old days, before the Enlightenment.

"Campaign to Seize US Justice's Home"
I'm laughing my ass off on this one. "Activists angered by a US Supreme Court ruling that homes can be demolished for public developments are trying to seize the home of one of the judges involved." This is EXACTLY how to handle this issue. Use the exact law that the justice ruled on. What is more personal than property? This is the equivalent of the king seizing your estate and placing one of his barons on it in your place. And what happens if the home owner is the only minority in town, but the administration proves they are going to use the land for "public benefit"? You then have no protection from racism of the majority.

Bon Voyage
I didn't even know you could mutiny on a cruise ship. And you have to worry about pirates? Jesus, if you're so eager to depart with your money, just bury it on a desert island somewhere.

The Last Page
One last note to say that "The Beast" has posted the "50 most loathsome people in America, 2005". For good or for bad, G. W. Bush, his mother's uterus, God and You all made the list.

I'm Pissed/I'm Not Pissed

2006-01-12T08:02:00.000-06:00

I'm Not as Pissed Today
Well, after reading a website on workplace fairness and realizing that my company has more lawyers on staff than god, I realized that I pretty much have no privacy in the workplace and will just have to watch what websites I go to while at work. I barely checked my e-mail and didn't work on my blog at all, other than e-mailing URL's to myself that I wanted to include. Just in case you care, here's a website on workplace fairness.

I'm Pissed at the Government
The Social Security Administration says that their Death Master File is available online - for a subscription fee from the United States Department of Commerce, not the SSA itself. Why not? Why aren't all the documents the government has available online if they are subject to the FOIA? Ok, I understand why they weren't online in 1993, but this is 2006 for christssake. Not only are we not living on the moon and driving flying cars, the Death Master File doesn't have a clickable index online. Conversely, I think the Douglas County Tax Assessor's office in Nebraska has one of the best government websites I've seen, including color aerial photos of the property in Omaha. In fact, I compared the aerial photos on the DCAssessor's website with Google Earth, and the DC site had a much better quality.

Scrap the Whole Thing, It's Shit Anyway
Sen. Joseph Biden suggested scrapping the Judicial confirmation hearings, which probably isn't a bad idea. Alito isn't saying anything that might get him in hot water with anyone, other than "I'm going to be myself." Alito is going to be confirmed regardless because he really isn't saying anything anyone is going to object to and he's going to get enough Republican votes to get in. The Supreme Court was getting a little low on elite white males, so it's probably good that their going to beef up their ranks. Here's an op-ed piece in the NYT about what Alito REALLY said.

Stone Satan for Islam
Dozens were killed at the Hajj during a stampede at the symbolic stoning of the devil. Kinda makes you want to be a Muslim, doesn't it? Weren't there several dozen killed last year, too? Some of these religious rituals worked when there were a few thousand or even a few million Muslims in the world, but with a billion Muslims, they need to re-think some of these rituals that people are expected to perform during the Hajj. Wait, what did I just say? No religion is really able to re-think their rituals, so scrap that. As long as religions keep proving themselves archaic and not able to adjust to modern society, they will keep losing the free thinkers (in EVERY society, not just Islam) and only keep the fringe fanatics. I think the state of religions is going to get worse in the next few hundred years, not better. Maybe even in our lifetime. There will be pitched battles of fanatics of each religion killing each other over trinkets and little stretches of parched ground. Oh wait, it's happening already.

We Promise Not to Break It
The government says there will be no environmental impact from opening up the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. According to this website, the "biggest ANWR advocacy organization is Arctic Power" and the energy exploration would take place on .01% of the total land of the refuge. I can't really find any reason to disagree, although I know several environmental agencies are against it. I completely agree that we need to explore more and better renewable energy resources, but until they arrive, we are dependent on crude oil.

Jesusland is in Danger - Not
Jerusalem said it won't do business with Pat Robertson after his recent comments about Ariel Sharon. I wonder if any contracts had been signed yet? I wonder if Pat Robertson gets paid if Israel breaks the deal with him but end up developing Jesusland with the other developers. That way, Pat would get money up front from Israel for breaking the contract with him and he would still get paid by whatever interest he's bought in Jesusland through the other evangelists trying to develop it. Hmm, I smell an investigative report.

Impeach Bush
I don't have the room to go into all the details, but don't miss this lengthy article about the impeachment of Bush.

"Automated monitoring...of your Internet activity"

2006-01-11T07:41:00.000-06:00

Ok, so here's the memo we got at work:

NEW TOOLS ENHANCE MONITORING OF INTERNET ACTIVITY ON (the company)'S NETWORK
With the ever-changing and highly sophisticated technologies available, (the company) has acquired more advanced tools to further strengthen our ability to monitor inappropriate internet activity on the company's network.
Effective immediately, (the company) will commence automated monitoring of the content of your internet activity to detect and track certain inappropriate and illegal uses of the company's electronic resources. In particular, the monitoring will detect and track sexual content and pornographic material, including child pornography. Any uses of (the company)'s electronic resources for the exchange, viewing, transmission or receipt of pornographic material, particularly child pornography, is strictly prohibited and possibly criminal. Improper and unlawful uses of (the company)'s internet access and other electronic resources detected by these or any other means will be subject to progressive discipline, up to and including immediate termination. Activity involving child pornography and other criminal conduct will be dealt with most severely, including possible referral for prosecution.
Please review (link to company policy) if you have questions about the appropriate use of the company's communications systems. The company expects every associate to adhere to high standards of conduct and to promote behavior that complies with (the company)'s policies and the law. The security and appropriate use of (the company)'s network is critical to the success of our business operations and the well-being of our work environment. Thank you for your support and cooperation.

So, first I have to worry about the NSA and the FBI searching my e-mail and blogs for any mention of Bush or Al-Qaeda, and now I have to worry about my job reading my e-mails over my shoulder. I'm not saying I'm searching Google for kiddie porn or donkey shows in Tijuana, but I do have e-mails I receive that are probably not work related. There's a web site called the anonymizer (www.anonymizer.com), but even that site was restricted by our blockers. I can't view the Onion at work, Landover Baptist, and some pages on Snopes. Apparently, my company's need to protect me extends to profanity, tasteless and "gross" content. I'm just waiting now until my access to www.blogger.com is restricted, too. A lot of companies are doing that. However, at this time, I can still access www.dilbert.com, so life isn't all bad. I realize I work for a private company, and they can do pretty much whatever they want, but I think this extends just a little into the right to privacy and the right to free speech. I guess the critical question is how much can a private company restrict your civil liberties and still be within their rights? I understand that my right to free speech does NOT extend to me saying "fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck" all day long. And the right to privacy does not protect me when performing illegal acts (i.e. kiddie porn). But does it give my company the right to intercept and read my e-mails to determine if they conform to company standards? This is an issue becoming more and more complex in today's world where companies have to compete with the Internet for the employee's productivity. I have heard studies that show that productivity goes down in direct proportion to the amount of Internet access. I may have to see what other employees online are saying. This has never been an issue with my company until now.

First Major Underreported Story of 2006
Did you hear about this on ANY of the major news networks? The Cherokee nation has broken with Christian tradition and approved gay marriage. Right here in middle-America (Oklahoma).

Flaming Mouse of Death
Apparently, the story about the flaming mouse catching the house on fire may not be accurate. I'm actually a little relieved.

Bill to Impeach Bush
A bill introduced in the House of Represenatives in December to investigate whether Bush should be impeached. As near as I can tell, it's stuck in the Committee on Rules.

Well, Duh
And,furthers futher proof that Gore won. Evidently, double votes were not counted. Some people hated Bush so badly that they voted for Gore AND wrote him in. Thousands of them. And the courts would not take these votes into consideration when deciding who won Florida.

Bush Can't Count
Bush recently announced that the number of dead Iraqis may number up to 30,000. His handlers immediately dumbed down that number, but evidence points to as many as 180,000-500,000 Iraqis dead.

The Top 30 Facts about Chuck Norris
Silly, stupid, and addictively funny. "Chuck Norris ordered a Big Mac at Burger King--and got one!"

I had more, but I wanted to concentrate on the memo my company sent out, so additional stories will be posted tomorrow.

Socialism, Sensationalism and Hedonism

2006-01-09T03:23:00.000-06:00

What happened to Harry Belafonte's Hair?
I said a few days ago that I couldn't figure out why Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was such a bad guy for being a leftist. Evo Morales has gotten similar harsh treatment from the American press. In Venezuela this weekend, Harry Belafonte, now 78, called Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world". I guess time marches on for us all. It will be interesting if the administration has any official response to this or if they ignore it, like they do most all criticisms.

Dump that legally obtained money!
I work a full-time job and earn money easily shown on my paycheck stub. However, I worry about my friends and neighbors worrying that I obtained the money illegally, so I give thousands of dollars away to charities in case I ever get questioned about how I earned it. Well, not really, but apparently everyone who ever received a dime from Abramoff is doing it. With the news that more than 60 lawmakers could be involved and that there might be bigger fish in the water than Abramoff, the Republicans might want to tread kind of lightly on the Alito hearings. With Bush's approval rating and the corruption scandal (and news they aren't releasing tax data like they should), they will almost certainly lose the White House and Congress both. So, they may see this as their last chance to leave a conservative mark on at least one of the three branches and fight like hell to get Alito confirmed. I personally see their chances dwindling, partially just because the Republicans want Alito in and people love to do the opposite of what people want when those people piss them off. And, with Pat Robertson sounding a lot like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the term "religious right" isn't sounding so superior lately. Although, lawmakers in Washington recently warned the supreme court about finding the state's definition of marriage between one man and one woman unconstitutional. My favorite quote: "We believe that the courts don't have the right to go in and change the law the Legislature has passed." -- Rep. Mike Armstrong. Apparently, they don't have checks and balances in Wenatchee.

Snowstorm Katrina
I like it when media outlets admit their own efforts at sensationalism, but it's sad that these instances are escalating, not diminishing. I wonder if society went through this kind of thing when the telegraph came along? And again with the telephone. Note to self -- research this.

Of Mice and Men
Ok, I've had mice lately, but haven't tried to set them on fire. This man would get the Darwin Award if he had killed himself in the process. This story has been on every news site I've been on and was on Yahoo's "most e-mailed" list. How embarrassed is this guy?

Who Knew?
Common sense tells us that repetition of violent behavior predicates more violent behavior. This study shouldn't surprise anyone, but I seriously believe it should be looked at more closely by lawmakers without causing a knee-jerk reaction.

The High Cost of Music IV
This is becoming a theme. I have written about the high cost of music on three previous posts, and keep finding sources to back me up. Now it has been announced that the Rolling Stones' Bigger Bang tour is set to become the highest grossing tour of all time. "The average fan shelled out nearly $134 to attend one of the [...] shows".

Pure Hedonism
Ok, I have to say that I have been in love with the new Toyota FJ Cruiser since I saw it on their website two years ago. Completely unnecessary, but we are all entitled to our little slices of American Pie.

Back in the Day
In MY day, robbers holed themselves up in abandoned houses with boarded up windows and crowed around a rickety old kitchen table to plan their next heist while trying to avoid the coppers, NOT down on the beach parading around in their stolen goods! Sheesh! Young'ins today!

Patty Bush, Patty Bush, Insane religious Men

2006-01-06T01:21:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-04T01:07:00.000-06:00

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

2006-01-03T02:09:00.000-06:00

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.

Al-Jazeera's Selective Reporting

2005-12-30T00:37:00.000-06:00

Monarch Airlines Airbus makes Passenger Responsible for his Own Behavior
In the U.S., the airline would be sued for discrimination and a whole slew of other things. As an employee of the travel industry, I applaud Monarch Airlines for their decision.

Al-Jazeera drops the ball
Al-Jazeera seems to be making very selective decisions on covering issues affecting the world of Islam. First, I have been checking and re-checking the English-language version of Al-Jazeera for any mention of the honor killings in Pakistan.
A search on Dogpile.com for "honor killings pakistan" shows that the story, written by the AP, was carried on Fox News, CNN, USA Today, ABC News, MSNBC, the Seattle Times, the Taipei News, the Free Republic, the Salt Lake City Tribune, etc., etc., etc. However, I can't find any mention of it on Al-Jazeera.net. My theory is that Al-Jazeera writes their own stories and does not carry news reported by the AP. While this makes some sort of Arab Pride logic, it does not make sense to keep important news from people who go to Al-Jazeera first for their news. These are quotes from the "About Al-Jazeera" page:

"With more than 30 bureaus and dozens of correspondents covering the four corners of the world Aljazeera has given millions of people a refreshing new perspective on global events."

"Aljazeera.net English goes behind the scenes to provide every visitor with 'the news they don't see', daringly and boldly as Aljazeera always does. "

"Our team of dedicated journalists with their multi-national education and diversified backgrounds share a common set of attributes: objectivity, accuracy, and a passion for truth."

"Truth will be the force that will drive us to raise thorny issues, to seize every opportunity for exclusive reporting, to take hold of unforgettable moments in history and to rekindle the willpower within every human being who strives for truth."

Also, I haven't seen reactions from Muslim leaders on any news sources, although there should be condemnations from pole to pole on this issue.

There is also no mention on Al-Jazeera of the Florida teenager who went to Iraq for Christmas vacation. He is of Iraqi descent and saw the Middle East from a boy of Iraqi descent from America who takes pride in his parents' native country and sincerely wants to help. I was seriously interested in what he saw and how he viewed it through an American teenager's eyes. But Al-Jazeera didn't mention one word about it.

Whistleblower in the UK
Craig Murray is publishing secret memos on his blog about the UK about torture collusion between the US, UK and Uzbekistan. You can read them on his page here. You can also look for them here and here if his page has been shut down.

This is a full-time job!

2005-12-28T22:49:00.000-06:00

12/28/05
Ok, so sharing my valuable opinions with the world could become a full-time job. There's so much in the news today I need to comment on! And, I'm still working on getting all the links attached to my last posting so that I can at least justify myself a little bit. I'll just have to keep plugging along. I want to get at least the links and a quick comment on here today and then I'll go back and flesh it out a little when I can.
-Andrew

Ansel Adams vs. Larry Flint
As long as it is something you can pay too much for and hang in your foyer, politicians are all for the freedom of expression in art. But make something the politicians don't agree with and it's labeled as porn and demands are made to take it down. Politicians should be 100% behind the artists in these cases. They need to get on TV and tell people, "This is what you get with freedom of expression--alternate viewpoints. This is what being part of a FREE society is about! Freedom of expression doesn't mean freedom of only YOUR expression."

Honor Killings
This is exactly the reason that people find it easy to hate Muslims. This could be cultural, it could be religious, but whatever it is, it can't be divorced from Islam. It may not be representative of all of Islam, but I'm sure it happens much more often than reported. Just like Pat Robertson and abortion doctor killings give Christians a bad name, stories like this make people turn to each other and say, "I told you so." And, until issues like this are addressed in the Muslim community, there will continue to be a huge rift between Muslim nations and the rest of the world. I actually think Al-Jazeera is a pretty decent news agency, but checking their English-language website, I didn't find any mention of this story on their homepage, news page or culture page. Leaders of predominantly Islamic countries should be shouting the condemnation of these killing from the rooftops, but their silence will only act as a nod to the "faithful" that these types of acts are condoned. I won't be too harsh right now, though. As I write this, it's just after 10:00 a.m. in Dubai, so it's possible "official" responses to this tragedy haven't been publicized yet.

2-weeks' notice
I like this story. Maybe so called "high-ranking" Democrats will get the message that they need to shape up or people will ship out. I think it's high time for 2 more parties anyway. Moderate Republicans and liberal Democrats are simply not represented by their parties any more.

Ooh, this is getting good
OK, this bears my full attention. Break out the Preparation-H, baby, because I'm full of opinions and mine probably stink, but I need an outlet for my valued insights and blogging is healthier than chucking eggs at passing cars...
I think I'll work on the comments and put it in my next post. I'll be on the lookout for more end-of-2005 stories.

On a lighter side
The Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction award is awesome. Not only are the passages themselves fun (and painful) to read, awards like these are necessary to keep writers honest who want to take a little too much literary freedoms in their work.

Blogging without Borders
Apparently Reporters without Borders recommended the use of http://www.Anonymizer.com to access independence websites in Morocco and has since been blacklisted. I attempted to access Anonymizer from my computer at work, and our Internet filter restricted it because it contained "Anonymizers content." Apparently, someone at Corporate has done their homework. I won't say what company I work for, but I ran across this unusual article online. By the way, Reporters without Borders also has this "handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents."

Arianna Huffington's 2005 List

2005-12-27T00:44:00.000-06:00

Arianna Huffington published a list of things she wants to forget on Alternet.org. It just re-pissed me off, so I wanted to share it and make some comments on them. Of course, they really speak for themselves and my comments just reiterate the obvious. This is more theraputic for me than any groundbreaking insight. My comments are in red.
-Andrew

The Things I Want to Forget
By Arianna Huffington, AlterNetPosted on December 23, 2005,
Printed on December 26, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/30034/

The older I get, the more I'm convinced that the key to happiness is starting every day, if you can, with a clean slate. But it should certainly be done before the start of every new year. This task is particularly easy for me this year since forgetfulness seems to come along with the Bora Bora breeze here.

So here is my list of things from 2005 that I'd love to forget -- that, indeed, we'd all be better off if they never crossed our minds again:

Bill Frist, video diagnostician. Bill Frist, stock market genius. Bill Frist.
Even though Bill Frist is a Republican, I didn't like to see this story come out. I wanted him to be "good guy" because he was a darling of the GOP and he changed his mind on stem cell research. Too bad he'll be hitting Martha Stewart up for cell decorating tips soon. Oh well, one more Republican indicted for insider trading.

That drivers will soon have to take out a second mortgage before filling up at the gas pump.
I was reading an article on getting oil out of the sands in Canada and it said that oil from the middle East costs so little to produce, the oil companies would make a profit even if oil was just a few dollars a barrel. It was a Merry Christmas for someone. Taking the bus has been good for me. Not only am I walking more, but I only pay $45 a month for unlimited transportation. I used to spend that much a week for gas for my SUV.

Bill O'Reilly's enemies list. That I wasn't on it (we'll try harder next year).
Bill O'Reilly is another pandering right-wing media schlock who makes a huge salary from being ultra-conservative. He recently changed his mind on the whole "war on Christmas" thing and said that it was okay now to wish someone a "Happy Holidays." Waffler.

That the president thought Harriet Miers was the most qualified candidate for the Supreme Court.
We all know there is no accounting for the president's taste.

That Harriet Miers thought George Bush was the most brilliant man she'd ever met.
Yeah, what was the deal with that? Was it just a ploy to appeal to the kool-aid drinkers that support Bush? I'd like to think that she had more sense than that, especially if she was a nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States.

The passage of the morally bankrupt bankruptcy bill.
First of all, bankruptcy is just and ugly looking word. I think it should be changed to "bankruptedness".
Second of all, I'm certainly no economist, but I think this bill does three things. 1) socially, it keeps the lower classes low--meaning that if you can't get rid of your debt, you also can't afford to go to school, buy a computer, make improvements to your house (or even buy one), buy a (newer) car, keep up with the (expensive) information age. The TV in my living room doesn't have a remote (luckily the VCR does) because I just can't afford to shell out $600 for a new one, let along an HD liquid plasma LCD 72" sucker that costs more than my last car. 2) economically, it keeps the lower classes low--meaning this effectively creates economic Middle Ages. The very lower classes are effectively serfs and peasants, owning almost nothing and beholden to their jobs for pure survival. The middle management forms the middle class previously occupied by shop owners, inn keepers and skilled servicemen. They live comfortably as long as they aren't too much of a threat to the layers above them. Banks, credit card companies, lawyers and the like make up the "knights" class. The impoverished lower classes believe that they have their best interests in mind, but in reality, it's their existence in poverty that allows that class to make its fortune and keep it hold in society. The CEOs, business owners, major stockholders and other wealthy own in virtual space what the landed gentry used to own: The assets that make the world go around. The serfs and peasants can do very little, if anything, to threaten this upper strata of economic life. Just like past political revolutions, only a rebellion by the "middle class" can make any lasting changes. Peasants may have benefited from and joined revolutions in history, buy it was only when the middle class rebelled that any revolution was successful. The further we go into the 21st century, the closer we become to the Middle Ages. The gap between rich and poor has never been wider in all of history, and shows no signs of any abatement. Laws like this bankruptcy bill just serve to cement that. 3) I already touched on this, but laws like this keep the serfs in their place by ensuring an inescapable situation--an expanding labor force grateful for low-paying, unskilled jobs that they see as life-savers, but in reality keep them in their place by ensuring that they won't progress beyond their necessary economic place.

That the New York Times held off running the NSA spying story for over a year.
The recent story that Bush has been meeting with editors of major news media and asking them to voluntarily quash NSA-related stories is just downright scary. Do people who are asked to "voluntarily" censor themselves take the news better from men in suits than from men in uniforms? Is the end result any different? And, is this "voluntary" censorship like the Mafia's "voluntary" contributions? If ANY of these editors have ANY skeletons in their closets, I'm betting they complied faster than the NSA could say "how widely publicized do you want these pictures of you and the 14-year old boys on your 'business trip' to Singapore?"

Being Bobby Brown: "Hell to the no!"
Once again, crack has ended at least two careers. I liked Bobby "back in the day." I never liked Whitney musically, but a lot of people did. I guess in his own words, crack is "my prerogative."

The note President Bush passed Condoleezza Rice, asking if it was OK to take a bathroom break during a U.N. Security Council meeting.
I don't get the hoo-ha over this. I saw this image, along with the rest of the world who has e-mail, and I didn't read this as though he were a 5-year-old asking for permission, but rather someone who wanted a tactful break arranged since he was dealing with the protocols of other world leaders. I think Bush is a flipping moron and Rice is his and Cheney's lap dog, but just didn't see the big deal in this situation. Maybe he should have stood up and said, "I gotta fire off a torpedo and drain the lizard, so don't y'all run off now, y'hear?" And maybe, just maybe, if Bush is attending a U.N. Security Council meeting, it was something that actually needed his attention (although I'm not saying he actually paid attention).

The missing $9 billion the U.S.-led occupation government in Iraq can't account for.
I'm sure that no one in the administration knows anything about unaccounted-for billions of dollars . How could they be expected to account for EVERY cent that is spent in Iraq ? You're asking the impossible. I posted an article on my blog yesterday about Dick Cheney's stock increasing 3,000% in the last three years. The cost to taxpayers to investigate the missing money? $0.00. The cost of padding you and your friends' pockets so you never have to worry about money again? Priceless. It would be nice if it would force Cheney's impeachment.

Jeff Gannon, White House correspondent -- aka Jeff Guckert, hotmilitarystud.com.
You can't make this shit up. But apparently, the threat that the "Jeff Guckert mess will not be swept away" just isn't. I had to Google him to remember exactly who he was. Eight months later and the whole thing is pretty much forgotten. Apparently, he's still a rabid Bush supporter, with an 8 1/2" dick.

That there is a debate about whether waterboarding is actually torture.
First of all, the first paragraph on Wikipedia says "In the medieval form of waterboarding...". OK, so the mere fact that there is a Medieval form of this procedure that's pretty similar to what is used today is telling enough. What did I say a few paragraphs ago about looking more like the Middle Ages every day? This is just another way that the Bush (Pope) is justifying that the Administration (Catholic Church) uses torture (Holy Inquisition). Four hundred years from now, the U.S. government will apologize for it and all will be forgiven.

Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Viveca Novak: The Three Media Stooges of Plamegate.
One word to Arianna here: I agree with an article I saw on Alternet: stop using -gate after every scandal. Don't fall into the "sound bite" trap. Now, let me fall back into (romanticized) Medieval times again. Bob Woodward, once upon a time, was Robin Hood, who defeated the evil sheriff of Nottingham and the illegitimate king, Prince John. Now that King Richard is in power and Robin Hood's place is secure in legend, he can't very well go around spreading news of the corruption among King Richard's tax collectors, can he? It's all very simple.

The Fred Durst sex tape.
I haven't seen it. I keep meaning to Google it at home, but somehow it just never seems that important. I'm assuming if I put "bad sex tapes by fat white guys" in Google and click "I feel Lucky", it will come right up.

That 493 U.S. soldiers have died since Dick Cheney declared the insurgency was in its "last throes."
I think Bush and Cheney should be held personally responsible for EVERY SINGLE military and civilian death by the U.S. in Iraq since 9/11. Everyone knows Bush vowed to Daddy to get that mean old Hussein that threatened Daddy's life back in the 90's. Now we just have to live with the consequences of it and foot the bill for the Bush family's personal vendetta. Hmm, do the think that business ventures that Daddy has with the Saudi Royal family have any connection at all to deposing Saddam Hussein? <Oil prices at 30-year highs. Increased percentage of world oil coming from Saudi Arabia since Iraqi supplies unstable. Saudi oil companies being hired to help rebuild Iraqi oil fields. Bush, Cheney, and most of Bush's cabinet directly profiting from oil companies.> Nah, I'm just a conspiracy theorist.

That Dick "Five Deferments" Cheney was willing to go toe-to-toe with John "Five Years as a POW" McCain over the issue of torture.
First of all, the Bush administration has such a cloud of arrogance (noted here, here, here, here and here) surrounding them that I don't think it would even occur to them to consider McCain's experiences. There simply is no way anyone in the Bush administration could be wrong. I think some skillful behind-the-scenes Republicans convinced Cheney to acquiesce to McCain's reforms, believing that they could either 1) ignore them completely and continue with normal (torture) operations or 2) water them down enough to be able to side-step them.

Jean Schmidt taking to the House floor and implying that Jack Murtha was a "coward."
Open mouth, insert foot. There is absolutely no way her remarks could have been taken any other way, and she intended it that way. Don't prove your support for our military by attacking a military veteran and fellow Congressman. She was only showing her support for Bush's agenda and no compassion or support for the troops themselves.

That voters could have gone to the polls in 2004 knowing that Bush was spying on Americans, that a key White House aide was charged with felonies, and that the initial reasons for invading Iraq were bogus -- but didn't, thanks to the timidity of the mainstream media. .
This is why I read CNN and BBC news first, then go to alternative media sources (www.alternet.org is a great one. So is www.projectcensored.org, although it is difficult to verify the validity of some of the articles) to read the "rest" of the news. Anyone who wasn't a kool-aid drinker already believed all of these things to be happening anyway.

Tom Cruise vs. Brooke Shields

Tom Cruise vs. Matt Lauer

Tom Cruise vs. Oprah's couch
I'm convinced Tom Cruise is a frustrated middle-aged homosexual having a severe, very public mid-life crisis over his faith and his personal life. How frustrating would it be to be one of the most popular movie stars in the world, more money than you know what to do with, millions and millions of adoring fans (male and female), have been voted the Sexiest Man Alive, and yet have the faith you were indoctrinated into say that you are evil and will go to hell if you simply be yourself. I think this sad, over-covered situation will continue until Cruise either 1) commits suicide (possibly made to look like an accident--perhaps involving extreme sports) or 2) bursts out of the closet. I think Scientology is such a strong cult, however, that either way he would never denounce the Church. Until he can settle this though, and stop attacking everyone who doesn't agree with him (is Tom a Republican?), I am personally boycotting his movies. I know one person can't affect him financially or socially, but it makes me feel better.

That, in a '60's flashback, the Pentagon is once again spying on the activities of anti-war activists.
This implies that they ever stopped. I think as technology progresses, the amount and instances of spying will simply increase. Is it possible to apply for a patent for yourself? If so, would you have control over any images or recordings made of that patented object? I doubt it could be done.

Hillary Clinton's shameless attempts to rebrand herself as a red-state-friendly Democrat -- including her decision to sign on as a co-sponsor of an anti-flag burning bill.
I used to like her, but she's so aggressively trying to be Republican-lite that she's starting to scare me. A local radio show brought up the possibility that Hillary could run on the Democratic ticket for '08 and Condoleeza Rice could run on the Republican ticket. Who would white Good Ol' Boys vote for? The White femi-nazi or the Black Republican? Or would their "heads just explode"?

Hillary's visit to Iraq, where when she opined that suicide bombers are "an indication" of the "failure" of the insurgency, and that much of Iraq was "functioning quite well."
More pandering to the middle-of-the road Republicans. Bleeccchh. Although, I have heard soldiers in Iraq speak candidly about their experiences and it does seem as though much of Iraq is functioning rather well.

Hillary taking on "Grand Theft Auto."
As liberal as I am, I have to sort of agree with Hillary on this one. First of all, I think all media (print, radio, video games, music, movies, television, books, magazines AND websites) should have ONE rating system. Y7, PG-13, Adult Only, XXX--whatever system "they" want to come up with. I am a firm believer in freedom of speech and I also believe that the makers of Grand Theft Auto have every right to make it--and make it as full of blood, violence, sex and drugs as they want to. I also believe that there is way too much media available for parents to be familiar with it. If one glance at the cover of the packaging says "Adults only due to sexual content", then parents could buy it for their children if they didn't believe sexual content was detrimental to their development. But if it said "Adults only due to graphic violence and drug references", then again, the parents could decide whether these fit their family's individual values. I also believe that text-only transcripts of video game dialogue and TV shows should be online (they are already created for hearing-impaired audiences, so it would be a short step to post them online) and that CD liner notes should be legally required to contain the lyrics to the songs on the CD. Why? Because, as an aging Gen-Xer, I myself am falling behind technologically and linguistically (I have had to look up song lyrics online to try to figure out what the hell the person was saying and I'm 32!). I truly believe in freedom of expression and that you should be able to put in every fuck, goddamn, shit and hell that you want to into your printed or broadcast material, but I also feel that parents should be able to make informed decisions. This would no only give parents the ability to limit the child's exposure to objectionable materials via TV (v-chip) and Internet, but future developments would allow parents to program digital and satellite radios not to receive radio stations with particular ratings. Parents would also be able to edit their child's cellphone, I-pod and MP3 players to block inappropriate material, too. It's all about giving parents the ability to make informed decisions, which is becoming harder and harder with so many forms of media available to children. And, for the first time, children know much more about the forms of media than the parents. It wasn't difficult for our parents to limit access to TV when there were three or four channels, but with billions of internet pages, downloadable songs and satellite radio stations beyond the reach of the FCC, parents need a tool to maintain control some semblance of control.

Intelligent Design vs. Evolution.
I don't even want to get started. Simply the latest bad attempt at religion to force morality into the legislative arena. I get so pissed when people try to legislate my morality. These are the same people who are trying to "save" Iraq from being controlled by a Muslim government! What if using religion to make legislative decisions became the norm? What about areas that are predominantly Muslim or Hindu or Catholic in the United States? So, Suzy Que is driving through suburban Detroit (I believe Detroit has one of the largest concentrations of Muslims in the U.S., but don't quote me on that) and she drives through a municipality that has made it illegal for women to appear in public without a Burqa or escorted by a male relative. Can she be arrested? And, would the same religious conservatives support those laws, based in religion, albeit a different one than their own? Of course not. But, they don't see the relevance if you point it out to them, either. Bah.

That Phil Cooney, an oil industry lobbyist turned White House official, did extensive rewrites on government reports to make it sound as if global warming weren't really that big a problem.
Underreported, but then again, there doesn't seem to be much concern for what the Bush administration does. Rush and O'Reilly would just say it was unjustly attacking the god-king.

Duke Cunningham's two defense contractor-provided 19th-century French commodes.
Another Republican indicted. Color me surprised. And we are being preached to about corruption on other countries? Those in glass houses...

That Paul Wolfowitz, one of the key architects of the war, has been successfully repackaged as the warm and fuzzy poverty-fighting president of the World Bank.
Wasn't it customary in Medieval times for kings to take land from their enemies and give it to their friends, giving their friends more titles and control over more peasants, thus becoming more wealthy? Oh, that has nothing to do with Paul Wolfowitz. I was just daydreaming about history.

That thanks to Bush budget cuts, one in five military families need food stamps or Women, Infants and Children program aid to get by.
As long as they are beholden to the Great and Powerful White Master, what's the problem? They don't need monetary compensation. The pride they take in fighting for America is reward enough. In fact, here come a battalion of them now. What's that they're singing? It sound like "Swing low..."

That China has become the second-largest holder of U.S. debt.
OK, learn me this. We have sanctions against Cuba because they are a Communist government. But we have more trade deals with China because they are a large economy. This goes into the "What the F---" files. First of all, we should just annex Cuba as the 51st state and build a bridge between Little Havana (Miami) and Big Havana. But why the hell is China getting "most favored nation" status? Oh yeah, the MONEY.

That Democrats chose the insipid "Together, America Can Do Better" as their new slogan. And
that they actually paid a messaging team to come up with it.
How about this. Everyone to the left of the Christian Coalition gives up their status as Republicans. Everyone to the right of Al Franken gives up their status as Democrats. We all find new parties, because the current ones suck. You know those urban myths about Joe from Accounting waking up in a Las Vegas bathroom with his kidney removed? Well, someone drugged the Democratic party and they woke up in a bathtub with their spine removed. It's truly disappointing to see so many spineless Democrats fail to step up to and challenge the corruption in the Republican party.

Drilling for oil in ANWR (I've been desperately trying to forget this one since 2001, but the White House just won't let me).
I'm going to have to read up on this one to find out exactly why it's bad for the U.S. to have it's own supply of oil. What I've seen so far has been propaganda by environmental groups. Like I said, I haven't really researched this, so I'll reserve any further comments.

Bush strumming his guitar, Condi taking in Spamalot, and Cheney shopping for luxury digs -- all while New Orleans flooded.
The correlations to Nero fiddling are so fitting. Wasn't Condi also seen shopping for shoes a day or two afterward?

That Bush waited five days before visiting the Gulf following Katrina. And that once he got there, he joked about his hard-partying days, congratulated Mike Brown on doing a "heck of a job," and promised to rebuild Trent Lott's house.
It really is similar to the royalty in France in the 18th century viewing damage to a peasant village and then moving on to a Lord's (Trent Lott?) house for croquet.

Brownie's resume -- especially his stint as commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association.
Bush has a shocking history of placing completely inept people in roles they are completely unprepared to deal with. Maybe some parts of the bureaucracy shouldn't be changed each time we elect a new president?

That About 40 percent of Mississippi's National Guard and 35 percent of Louisiana's -- a combined total of roughly 6,000 troops -- were unable to help out after the storm because they were in Iraq.
That's not such a problem. There were literally thousands of Red Cross volunteers, air boat pilots and off-duty military, police and fire personnel that were willing to go to the aid of the affected areas, but were prohibited by FEMA. By the way, don't we have huge amounts of military and civilian aircraft in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida? I believe there are several very large military bases in each state. If we were able to drop food and supplies in Berlin, why couldn't we do the same in New Orleans? Drop shipments should have begun within hours of assessing the extent of the damage. We already knew the people were there before the hurricane hit and the damage was visible immediately after. Bush has already accepted personal responsibility for the inaction of the government, but a "Gee, shucks, I made a boo-boo" isn't enough. Since he has accepted personal responsibility, can civil suits be brought against him? I'll have to research that, too.

That the first round of Katrina cleanup and reconstruction contracts went to that old gang from Baghdad: Halliburton, Bechtel, Fluor, and the Shaw Group.

The Post-Katrina Quote Hall of Shame:
"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of levees." -- G.W. Bush
No one except the City of New Orleans, a slew of scientists, National Geographic magazine, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Governor of Louisiana and Miss Cleo.

"Now tell me the truth, boys, is this kind of fun?" -- Tom DeLay to young evacuees in the Astrodome

"This is working very well for them." -- Former First Lady Barbara Bush on Katrina evacuees

"If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god." -- Mike Brown in an email sent in the immediate aftermath of Katrina

My favorite is Laura Bush calling it Hurricane Corrina. (WMP, Quicktime)

Find more Arianna at the Huffington Post.
ÃÂ© 2005 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/30034/

Abu Ghraib, Tookie and Cheney

2005-12-26T03:52:00.000-06:00

"The US had 'come a long way' since the Abu Ghraib scandal."

In a striking display of companssion, the US has said it won't "hand over detainees to the Iraqi authorities until they [the Iraqis] raise levels of care." In related news, Donald Rumsfeld has announced that Lynndie England will be handling the transition of prisoners from US to Iraqi prisons as part of her work-release program.

Alert! For first time ever, man on Death Row claims he is innocent of the crimes he was charged with!

First off, I have to ask why I have a moral obligation to be opposed to the death penalty because it doesn't work as a deterrent of crime? Can't I support the death penalty as punishment for a crime you have been convicted of? Or do I have some obligation to view crime and punishment from a Christian/Buddhist/New Age view point? If I firmly believe in the separation of Church and State, then I should not be basing my viewpoints on Capital Punishment, a role of the State, not the Church, on viewpoints put for by the Church. Removing the religous argument from the equation, as Separation demands that I do, I am just left with my own morals and principles to decide if the death penalty is just, and I really don't have a problem using death as a punishment for death. Who cares if it's a deterrent or not?
By the way, Bianca is aging just as well as Keith Richards.

How do you artificially inflate the value of stock you own?

By securing bid-less government contracts for billions of dollars of tax dollars that never have to be accounted for! And then, blatantly lie about it!

"Since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've
severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest,"
the Vice President said. "I have no financial interest in Halliburton of
any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years."