Debsweb: July 2006

Monday, July 31, 2006

Monday Musings Part 2

Seven songs that have factual or logical mistakes in the lyrics. This list does not include Tom Petty's Free Fallin', a song that sets me off every time I hear it. There is NO freeway running thru Reseda. None. Nada.

Scientists discover more than they expected. What exactly is a "large number of rare species"?

Speaking of life, l'chaim just doesn't mean what it used to. Liar, liar, pants on fire seems to be more appropriate. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is going to leave us blind and toothless.

Or what? Are we going to have the bailiff whack their pee-pee?

What is so different from last month? Better late than never, I guess. How many troops have died since that stupid mess over the non-binding resolution of "stay the course"? Politics.

If Mel Gibson hadn't been stopped by the police and proceeded to do what this woman did, would he still be going to rehab? Fame and money must be nice.

Speaking of money, here comes the shaft. As much as I would like to see the minimum wage increased, not under these conditions. Republicans, the party of cheap opportunity, besides the math doesn't make sense.

Random Flickr Blogging

IMG_8485
Originally uploaded by aspechtl.

After the painful lesson on the Segway, the President decided to wear protective headgear in the event of a crash.

"But it's so hard to see" he whined. "And why is the airbag in the back? Are you guys messing with me?"

Monday Musings

One of the reasons I went into healthcare is that one on one contact with the patient. I thought that would be protection against a recession. Medical care has changed in this country and become more like a cattle call than individual service. At least it wasn't outsourced. Until now. What if you don't fly? If they invented the transporter this might actually be feasible.

Isn't this how the Dems screwed up last year and let in Roberts and Scalito? If they spent more time governing instead of worrying about being re-elected, they might get re-elected. All we are asking is that you do your job, just the way society expects us to do ours. His track record sucks and we aren't exactly on the right side of the conflicts in the Middle East.

Can you pass the George Bush quiz? That was fun. Remember to pick the best answer, it can be difficult sometimes inbetween the snickering.

Well, that didn't take too long. Next thing you know, they will investigate who killed Tupac.

I have been telling people this for years. There are two ways to change the ratio of LDL to HDL and the medical community has been focused on only one of them. Sort of like blood pressure, both numbers are important.

I thought I did this one already.

What a dork! Glad he isn't my governor, not that I am all that thrilled with what we have in Caulifornia.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Sunday Geek Links

Shai loves her Frosty Paws. She licks every last drop, so I can imagine that meat ice cream would be popular with most animals on a hot day. It was so hot last week that she let me hose her down every couple of hours and she hates being wet.

Sounds promising, but do I want to know a few years ahead of time with no cure in sight?

Apple watching is ramping up. So which is it? Touchless or phone? Or both? We know something is coming, but what?

Which blog editor do you use? I have a Mac, so some of the recommendations don't work for me. I tried Perfomancing, but for some reason I didn't like it. I will give it another try though.

Umm, duh. Of course peoples response (article restricted) to drugs varies. This is why in chinese medicine we use formulas that can be tailored to the individual. No two people have the same symptoms when they get a cold, one may have a stuffy nose and one may have a sore throat, but they were both infected by the same kid. The gross structures of our bodies are the same, but as with our minds, we process things differently.

I want one.

Why Over There Didn't Work

It was too real and gritty. Americans prefer American Idol and Survivor for their reality shows, not life and death.

The Peculiar Disappearance of the War in Iraq - New York Times: "The specter of defeat is not the only reason Americans have switched off Iraq. The larger issue is that we don’t know what we — or, more specifically, 135,000 brave and vulnerable American troops — are fighting for. In contrast to the Israel-Hezbollah war, where the stakes for the combatants and American interests are clear, the war in Iraq has no rationale to keep it afloat on television or anywhere else. It’s a big, nightmarish story, all right, but one that lacks the thread of a coherent plot.

Certainly there has been no shortage of retrofitted explanations for the war in the three-plus years since the administration’s initial casus belli, to fend off Saddam’s mushroom clouds and vanquish Al Qaeda, proved to be frauds. We’ve been told that the war would promote democracy in the Arab world. And make the region safer for Israel. And secure the flow of cheap oil. If any of these justifications retained any credibility, they have been obliterated by Crisis in the Middle East. The new war is a grueling daily object lesson in just how much the American blunders in Iraq have undermined the one robust democracy that already existed in the region, Israel, while emboldening terrorists and strengthening the hand of Iran.

But it’s the collapse of the one remaining (and unassailable) motivation that still might justify staying the course in Iraq — as a humanitarian mission on behalf of the Iraqi people — that is most revealing of what a moral catastrophe this misadventure has been for our country. The sad truth is that the war’s architects always cared more about their own grandiose political and ideological ambitions than they did about the Iraqis, and they communicated that indifference from the start to Iraqis and Americans alike. The legacy of that attitude is that the American public cannot be rallied to the Iraqi cause today, as the war reaches its treacherous endgame.

The Bush administration constantly congratulates itself for liberating Iraq from Saddam’s genocidal regime. But regime change was never billed as a primary motivation for the war; the White House instead appealed to American fears and narcissism — we had to be saved from Saddam’s W.M.D. From “Shock and Awe” on, the fate of Iraqis was an afterthought. They would greet our troops with flowers and go about their business."

We can all see how that turned out. They greet us with things that go boom! Every day.

As it turned out, it was the worst of both worlds: we didn’t care, and we were incapable of acting effectively. Nowhere is this seen more explicitly than in the subsequent American failure to follow through on our promise to reconstruct the Iraqi infrastructure we helped to smash. “There’s some little part of my brain that simply doesn’t understand how the most powerful country on earth just can’t get electricity back in Baghdad,” said Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi exile and prominent proponent of the war, in a recent Washington Post interview.

You would think that the American people could sympathize after the last few weeks of blackouts, but heaven forbid that the news would mention that Iraq has been living this way since we invaded.

The simple answer is that the war planners didn’t care enough to provide the number of troops needed to secure the country so that reconstruction could proceed. The coalition authority isolated in its Green Zone bubble didn’t care enough to police the cronyism and corruption that squandered billions of dollars on abandoned projects. The latest monument to this humanitarian disaster was reported by James Glanz of The New York Times on Friday: a high-tech children’s hospital planned for Basra, repeatedly publicized by Laura Bush and Condi Rice, is now in serious jeopardy because of cost overruns and delays.

This history can’t be undone; there’s neither the American money nor the manpower to fulfill the mission left unaccomplished. The Iraqi people, whose collateral damage was so successfully hidden for so long by the Rumsfeld war plan, remain a sentimental abstraction to most Americans. Whether they are seen in agony after another Baghdad bombing or waving their inked fingers after an election or being used as props to frame Mrs. Bush during the State of the Union address, they have little more specificity than movie extras. Chalabi, Allawi, Jaafari, Maliki come and go, all graced with the same indistinguishable praise from the American president, all blurring into an endless loop of instability and crisis. We feel badly ... and change the channel.

To Dancing With The Stars or So, You Want To Be A Rock and Roll Star. Anything but the reality of life. Americans aren't just ignoring the war in Iraq, they are ignoring everything. Some of us have noticed that the economy really sucks, but the rest of America should figure that out by Christmas. Congress has been mainly smoke and mirrors, all talk no substance. All those resolutions aren't binding and they certainly don't pay any bills.

New Orleans gets even less press than Iraq. When it does get press it is slanted to present the damage as irreparable, except for the areas that don't need help. When the issue of fraud is broached, the wingnuts automatically blame the poor and the blacks for the one or two who bought frivolously while ignoring that well to do melanin impaired people bilked the system for thousands.

It is always fascinating to me how blacks are portrayed as stupid, illiterate and incapable of learning while at the same time they are responsible for everything that goes wrong. Consider this. Maybe if FEMA had been capable of doing its job and had competent people and plans in place, that the fraud might not have happened and people might have received help during and after the disaster. Just a thought.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

That Would Be Me

There is no way I would leave Shai Shai behind in the event of a disaster. Logic tells me to save myself first but leaving behind my pet is not an option. There is logic and there is love. The two are not necessarily compatible.

Officials Have Learned To Evacuate Fido, Too: "A Zogby International poll conducted in mid-September found that about 49 percent of the random sampling of nearly 3,000 people across the country probably would not evacuate ahead of a disaster if they couldn't take their pets."

Shai is my chld in everything but the fact that she is a dog (shhh, don't tell her that). I wouldn't leave my child, parent, sibling or spouse in a disaster, I am not leaving the love of my life. She trusts me, I would never betray or abuse that trust. She is my responsibility.

A kindly old man died peacefully and found himself resurrected in the middle of a country road. And behold! Running toward him was his favorite dog! He knelt and embraced his long lost pet in tearful reunion. After some time, the dog seemed anxious to walk the road in what seemed to be the direction of the rising sun. The man followed.

Before long, they came to a fence of wrought gold, with pearly gates, behind which there stood mansion upon mansion. The gatekeeper, a tall man in flowing white robes, greeted the man, and welcomed him to enter.

"But what exactly is this place?" said the man, who had been a lifelong agnostic.

"This," said the gatekeeper, is Heaven. But you'll have to leave him outside. We have a strict no-pets policy."

The man stood in confusion for some moments. His face became grim. "No thanks," he said. "I'll take my chances with my dog."

For a long time, the man and his dog wandered down the road. At last they came to an unpretentious farming community with no fences or gates of any kind. What appeared to be a contented old farmer was sitting on a stool next to an old-fashioned hand operated water pump. The dog ran up to the farmer, who petted him, and gave him some water.

"Where is this place?" asked the man.

"This is Heaven," answered the farmer. "It's all around you. You've been in it, or at least the outskirts of it ever since you died."

"But that fellow back yonder behind the pearly gates said that place was Heaven." replied the man.

"Nah, that's Hell," replied the farmer. "We leave the entrance there to weed out the hypocrites who'd leave their best friend behind."

My Favorite Song

What an interesting video, it makes me wonder if this is where J.K. Rowling got the idea for platform 9 and a half.

I have several different versions of this song, from the original Henry Mancini (love his music) version to the Emerson Lake & Palmer to the Art of Noise and a few stops in between.

Saturday Morning Music

Mason Williams - Classical Gas

One of my top ten favorite songs. I admit to classic rock as being my favorite genre of music, but in my top ten I have several instrumentals, of which this is one.

Why Do We Pay These People?

Rice plays piano whle the Middle East burns and the rest of the GOP equates the minimum wage with cutting the estate tax for people who don't need any more help. For a party that prides itself on people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, those rich people seem to need more help than the average American.

CNN.com - Minimum wage increase passes House - Jul 28, 2006:The Senate is expected to take up the legislation next week.

Still, Republican leaders saw combining the wage and tax issues as their best chance for getting permanent cuts to the estate tax, a top Republican priority fueled by intense lobbying by farmers, small business owners and super-wealthy families such as the Waltons, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune.

'This is the best shot we've got; we're going to take it,' said House Majority Leader John Boehner, a Republican. The unusual packaging also soothed conservatives angry about raising the minimum wage over opposition by Republican business allies.

The House passed the bill 230-180 before leaving for a five-week recess.

The New York Times has more on the backroom haggling behind this issue.

“Unlike some of my colleagues, I see this tax relief and minimum wage bill as complementary,” said Representative Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, one of the Republicans who has joined Democrats in pressing for a wage increase. “The sustaining of small businesses by keeping their vital assets will allow those making the minimum wage to continue working. This is a jobs bill.”

Representative Zach Wamp, Republican of Tennessee, said Democrats were upset with the legislation because Republicans had found a clever way to link the two. “You have seen us outfox you on this issue tonight,” Mr. Wamp told Democrats in the floor debate.

Ooh! Such adults we have running the country. Like a kindergarten sandbox. Playground rules seems to be the behavior of the day. It makes me wonder how much time they spend comparing themselves in the men's room, before they go out and stab each other in the back.

Some House Republican moderates hailed the legislation as a smart compromise that would preserve an estate tax that Republican leaders have been trying to eliminate since they came to power more than a decade ago. Once fully phased in, the cost of that compromise, however, would reach $62 billion a year, three-quarters the cost of full estate tax repeal.

To sweeten the deal for balking Democrats, especially in the Senate, GOP leaders larded the tax bill with special-interest breaks. Over the strenuous objections of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), they stripped a package of popular business tax extensions from the pension bill and added them to the estate tax cut.

Aah yes, the ever popular shell game continues. At no time is this about helping the people who needed the minimum wage increase, this is about getting legislation through on the backs of poor people. And getting elected. No actual governing in sight.

Against the wishes of Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), they included a measure that would shift costs of health care and environmental reclamation from coal companies to the federal government at a cost of nearly $4 billion over the next decade. Another measure, aimed at Washington state's two Democratic senators, would give timber companies a tax break worth $428 million over five years.

In total, the tax package would cost the Treasury nearly $310 billion through 2016.

The marrying of the minimum-wage boost with the estate tax cut and other tax breaks, engineered by House Republican leaders and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.), stemmed from a highly unusual move that came at Grassley's and Enzi's expense. The two had been leading difficult negotiations over the pension bill over the past eight months.

But the final sticking point came over Grassley's insistence that the pension bill contain a package of tax cut extensions such as the research-and-development tax credit, a credit for hiring workers off welfare, and a credit to promote wind energy. Frist and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) wanted to use those tax credits to entice Senate Democrats to vote for their permanent estate tax cut. Grassley tried to force a showdown Thursday night, calling a public meeting of negotiators and daring House Republicans to vote to strip out the tax measures.

Instead, House Republicans boycotted the meeting. Then GOP leaders effectively shut down negotiations and took the pension bill to the House floor without the tax measures, infuriating Grassley.

"When my credibility is abused and used, I resent it," Grassley shouted Thursday night, saying he had been "stabbed in the back."

Just like the rest of us. It must hurt to find out that their is no honor among thieves. So, I ask again. Why do we pay these people?

Friday, July 28, 2006

Flameout Friday

Playing the shell game (with people!) in Iraq. Or would this qualify as musical houses? Without the music, unless you count the beat of the bombs and the rat-a-tat-tat of automatic weapons fire.

No wonder kids like corn and carrots but not broccoli. I always liked vegetables (except for mom's version of creamed spinach which was all flour) but then I specialize in being arbitrary. I have authority issues, but then you knew that, didn't you?

What compassion and common sense couldn't accomplish, politics compels in the end. If it wasn't for meaningless resolutions, they wouldn't have anything to talk about over the break.

Big Brother is not only watching you, he is directing where and how you protest, the better to put you on some watchlist for exercising your rights as an American. We say we are bringing democracy to the Middle East as we remove it from the United States in the name of preventing terrorist attacks. Has anyone ever considered the thought that maybe this is causing more terror than an actual attack?

What would Moaning Myrtle say? That play should be a success, the theatre filled to the rafters with teenage girls.

So much for the 9th Circuit being liberal. You know this will be abused at every opportunity by someone with a badge and an attitude. Warrantless and no probable cause searches are okay in this new world.

On to the music!

1. Still...You Turn Me On by Emerson Lake and Palmer
2. See Emily Play by Pink Floyd
3. Caught Up In The Rapture by Anita Baker
4. Knockin' On Heaven's Door by Eric Clapton
5. This Masquerade by George Benson
6. Give It Away by Zero 7
7. Love Is The Drub by Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music
8. In The Name Of Love by Grover Washington Jr.
9. I Can't Explain by The Scorpions
10. East River Drive by Stanley Clarke

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Welcome To The Club

I have been an isolationist since the mid-sixties. My dad first noticed it when I was nine. I believe that American tax dollars should be spent in America, on Americans, taking care of America's infrastructure, medical care for her citizens and a good educational system to groom the next generation.

Americans Showing Isolationist Streak, Poll Finds - New York Times: "A majority said the war between Israel and Hezbollah will lead to a wider war. And while almost half of those polled approved of President Bush’s handling of the crisis, a majority said they preferred the United States leave it to others to resolve.

Over all, the poll found a strong isolationist streak in a nation clearly rattled by more than four years of war, underscoring the challenge for Mr. Bush as he tries to maintain public support for his effort to stabilize Iraq and spread democracy through the Middle East."

Wasting time, money and our military in an exercise in futility is not what most Americans want. Why should the Middle East have democracy when we don't? We have our own city to rebuild (New Orleans for those with short memories), voting issues that need to be addressed (Ohio, Georgia and Florida spring to mind) and a master criminal to track down and bring to justice (that would be Osama bin Forgotten). That's just for starters. Bridges need to be fixed. The electrical grid obviously needs help and we need to create jobs that aren't at Wal-Mart.

We are not the world's policemen or the world's savior. Might does not make right. No matter what Karl Rove says.

Observations

It only took 230 years, but America finally has its own King George and he has his overpaid Hessians. Please don't tell me that these guys are responsible for guarding the barracks. I guess you go to war with the military you have and then you outsource everything else.

The Defense Department said last year that at least 60 private security providers were working in Iraq with perhaps as many as 25,000 employees.

The effectiveness of private security contractors has been unclear. Many have been attacked, and some have been accused of recklessly using deadly force against Iraqi civilians.

How many people do we have over there fighting this "war"?

Morale is just great. Things are going swimmingly. Over three years since we invaded a sovereign nation and they have less than they started with and no end in sight. Wunnerful, wunnerful.

The veterans come back and are tossed into the war on little people. The tide is already turning, the first two theories blame the veteran for being unable to assimilate. Unless veterans go to work for one of the unnamed contractors, there aren't too many jobs that require you to dodge bullets and bombs. One of the ways they tried to snow me when I was in, was by telling me that my skills would enable me to find a job when I got out. As if civilians had guidance control missile systems that they needed repaired.

Greenades. Kids these days. No matter how smart adults think they are, kids can still occaisionally teach them something new.

If you eat too many Greenades, this can happen to you. This is the real health risk.

Dumber than a box of rocks. How could he think he wouldn't get caught?

Interesting. I love watermelon and to find out it is healthy as well as cooling is a bonus.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Food Around The World

I get bored eating the same old thing everyday. I like Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian, Mediterranean, Hawaiian, Italian, German, French, Russian, Thai, Cuban, Mexican, Chinese, British, Argentinean, Korean and Moroccan. It just depends on what I feel like eating. I have never willingly tried an insect but I have had kangaroo and ostrich. I might try some rattlesnake at the Garlic Festival this weekend. We'll see.

My first stop on the recipe search is Vietnamese. I love wraps, they are bright, fresh, crunchy, great-tasting and healthy for you. Plus, I like dipping sauces. Vietnamese food is a wonderful combination of flavors and textures, besides being able to help you lose weight.

Japanese home cooking. It isn't just sushi and tempura.

Nirmala's Kitchen. Beautiful site with recipes, spice blends, etc. from all around the world.

Mad cow. The Accidental Hedonist weighs in with some facts and figures the government would prefer you didn't know.

I eat vegetarian food. If you would like to try some of those wacky foods because you think it might be healthy or you are bored eating the same old thing all the time, here is a site that can find a vegetarian restaurant near you.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Foxing Around

I was checking out the new Technorati design (I like it), started checking if there were any new tools and realized that my Greasmonkey tagging script had been updated. In April. Since I updated that, I checked on my large template and post editors. All updated within the last few days. I like these scripts because they make Blogger more functional.

And anything that makes Blogger more functional is a good thing.

Like Sands Through The Hourglass

These are the days of our lives. Thirteen years ago today, Lebanon was in somewhat of the same boat. It's like the drunk neighbor syndrome. They may be obnoxious most of the time but you can get along with them, then they go off the wagon and start destroying everything in sight for reasons that nobody will care about when it is time to clean up the damage. You hit me first is old and tiresome, a game that children play.

In relatively simple terms this guy explains finance and stuff. Like the impact of variable rate mortgages. The rest of his site looks pretty interesting, so into the feeder he goes, under finance.

The other site got more traffic in two days than this one gets in a week. Suburban Guerilla mentioned the risque pics and how unsuitable they were for the work environment and hundreds of people showed up. And that was after I got the site its own Sitemeter. Thanks Susie!

That's what I'm saying. I would like to see some aspect of the final frontier explored in my lifetime. Of course, I would also like to see the planet survive.

Support the troops. This is what happens when you "balance" the budget (favoring people who don't really need it) and taking from those you have forced to support your failing policies. The usual lack of preparedness that we have come to expect from this administration is showing in the cutbacks to the Veterans Administration during a time of war and the disconnect from the realities of war and how the troops survive during and after. It's like changing your money into chips so you can play poker. If you lose, well, they are only chips. Our veterans deserve better.

Stupid. Just stupid. Did I mention how stupid this was?

It isn't like North Korea or Iran for goodness sake, Pakistan is only harboring Osama been Forgotten.

Fascinating. I have long believed that Shai can read my mind, energy field, whatever. I have run little experiments and she plays along about 90% of the time. I think pugs are bred for that. Maybe it's in that second code of DNA.

True. Oh so true. I love Apple. As much as I love Firefox, I don't use Thunderbird because the Mail program works for me. I just wish I was able to keep my dotmac account, but I will survive with gmail.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Not Surprising

Since we have degrees ourselves, we were perfectly capable of figuring out that we were sliding backward. We're pretty familiar with how the number line works.

That Raise Might Take 4 Years to Earn as Well - Los Angeles Times: "The recent wage slump has affected a substantial part of the workforce. About 30 million Americans age 20 to 59 have a four-year degree and no advanced degree, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The White House economists did not lay out wage trends for people with master's and other advanced degrees. But other studies have found that their inflation-adjusted wages were essentially flat between 2000 and 2004, and the studies have confirmed a decline for people with four-year degrees."

Once a tool, always a tool. For somebody with a four year degree he must have missed logic class. I guess he believes that if you cut your hair it will grow faster.

I would like this not to be so, but it is. This is not a good thing.

Thriller!

4416-08
Originally uploaded by furcafe.

Today's entry into the weekly Random Flickr blogging effort is brought to you by the Vincent Price Memorial Dance Revue. What they lack in talent they make up with skimpy outfits, enthusiasm and a song that still gets most people's toes tapping.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Overwhelmed By The Stupidity And Violence

For the last three months the news has become increasingly violent, depressing and hopeless. Afghanistan, a country that is not known for being conquered by invaders is returning to condition we invaded it in five years ago, except that the people have had false hope.

Iraq. No longer a country, just a mob of unreasoning angry people who believe they have religion on their side and will kill you to prove it. I'm sure the dead understand now.

Israel. Their new state motto is "If you're a civilian, you're a target". Wonder when they are going to go back to pounding the Gaza residents. Trying to pretend like they are the injured and not the injuring party. Bombing civilians to get at terrorists seems a little like the pot calling the kettle black. Let's use as an example the city of Seattle being invaded by Canada. All the citizens are warned to leave the city or they will be killed. Meanwhile the roads, bridges, hospitals, ships, trains and airport are bombed into obliivion. Is it the civilians fault that they can't get out of the way, leaving everything they have worked their lives for, and they become the dead bodies seen on the news? Our lack of empathy for those who don't look like the the others is going to be this country's downfall.

From New Orleans to Baghdad to Lebanon if you aren't a part of the master race you can expect no sympathy, no empathy and no help. You should have been born into a rich white family in a gated community in order to deserve human consideration. All civilian deaths are not equal and whether you are or have supported a terrorist will always be determined by the winner.

Israel has used up any sympathy I may have had for them. If something bad actually happens to them, I probably wouldn't read the article or care very much. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. Somebody's britches are a little bit too big.

My response to all this has been entertainment. Avoidance. Just reading the headlines and moving on. The only thing that has changes are the locations of the atrocities, the country perpetrating them this week and whether we approve. North Korea has dropped so far off the radar that Kim Jong Il has had time to get married.

We're like little kids with a new bauble. Entertained until we either break it or get a new toy.

Body Art Photos

Wow! I had to share this one, for obvious reasons. This is from a body art show where people wear nothing but paint. Really good looking paint, I might add.

Over at the secret website (I guess I'm going to have to format that template) are the more adult photos. Some people are definitely creative. And have they the bodies to carry it off.

Death March With Cocktails - Amateur Hour

Someone sent me the link to this clip and it looks pretty interesting. If I had tv I would watch it.

One of the new series on Fox, starting August 21. Looks interesting and continues in the vein of 24 and Prison Break with a supposed single plotline over the course of the season.

The premise of this one is that the Senator's wife disappears and the points of view of family, FBI, etc as the season progresses. It turns out every one has secrets.

I was typing and just listening, this guy sounds like Jimmy Carter, but better looking.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Now That's Rich

He slams so many people in one article that it is truly a joy to read. He was in fine form when he wrote this.

The Passion of the Embryos - New York Times: "History has since condemned President Bush for ignoring that intelligence. But to say that he did nothing that summer is a bum rap. Just three days later, on Aug. 9, he took a break from clearing brush in Crawford to reveal the real priority of his presidency, which had nothing to do with a nuisance like terrorism. His first prime-time address after more than six months in office was devoted to embryonic stem-cell research instead. Placing his profound religious convictions above the pagan narcissism of Americans hoping for cures to diseases like Parkinson’s and diabetes, he decreed restrictions to shackle the advance of medical science.

Whatever else is to be said about the Decider, he’s consistent. Having dallied again this summer while terrorism upends the world, he has once more roused himself to take action — on stem cells. His first presidential veto may be bad news for the critically ill, but it was a twofer for the White House. It not only flattered the president’s base. It also drowned out some awkward news: the prime minister he installed in Baghdad, Nuri al-Maliki, and the fractious Parliament of Iraq’s marvelous new democracy had called a brief timeout from their civil war to endorse the sole cause that unites them, the condemnation of Israel.

The news is not all dire, however. While Mr. Bush’s Iraq project threatens to deliver the entire region to Iran’s ayatollahs, this month may also be remembered as a turning point in America’s own religious wars. The president’s politically self-destructive stem-cell veto and the simultaneous undoing of the religious right’s former golden boy, Ralph Reed, in a Republican primary for lieutenant governor in Georgia are landmark defeats for the faith-based politics enshrined by Mr. Bush’s presidency. If we can’t beat the ayatollahs over there, maybe we’re at least starting to rout them here.

That the administration’s stem-cell policy is a political fiasco for its proponents is evident from a single fact: Bill Frist, the most craven politician in Washington, ditched the president. In past pandering to his party’s far-right fringe, Mr. Frist, who calls himself a doctor, misdiagnosed the comatose Terri Schiavo’s condition after watching her on videotape and, in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, refused to dispute an abstinence program’s canard that tears and sweat could transmit AIDS. If Senator Frist is belatedly standing up for stem-cell research, you can bet he’s read some eye-popping polls. His ignorance about H.I.V. notwithstanding, he also knows that the facts about stem cells are not on Mr. Bush’s side.

Calls himself a doctor. Ouch!

If you believe, as Mr. Bush says he does, that either discarding or conducting research with I.V.F. embryos is murder, then fertility clinic doctors, like stem-cell researchers, belong on death row. But the president, so proud of drawing a firm “moral” line, will no sooner crack down on I.V.F. than he did on Kim Jong Il: The second-term Bush has been downsized to a paper tiger. His party’s base won’t be so shy. Sam Brownback, the Kansas Republican who led the Senate anti-stem-cell offensive and sees himself as the religious right’s presidential candidate, has praised the idea of limiting the number of eggs fertilized in vitro to “one or two at a time.” A Kentucky state legislator offered a preview of coming attractions, writing a bill making the fertilization of multiple eggs in I.V.F. treatments a felony.

Not that I would wish anyone to be ill, but maybe a little empathy is in order. Do you knw how much I.V.F costs? How difficult and painful it is for the woman? Or would this be punishment for not being 'perfect'? Why is it okay for royalty to have 'an heir and a spare'?

By 2005 Mr. Reed had become so toxic that Mr. Bush wouldn’t be caught on camera with him in Georgia. But the Bush-Rove machine was nonetheless yoked to Mr. Reed in their crusades: the demonization of gay couples as boogeymen (and women) in election years, the many assaults on health (not just in stem-cell laboratories but in federal agencies dealing with birth control and sex education), the undermining of the science of evolution. The beauty of Mr. Reed’s unmasking is the ideological impact: the radical agenda to which he lent an ersatz respectability has lost a big fig leaf, and all the president’s men, tied down like Gulliver in Iraq, cannot put it together again to bamboozle suburban voters.

It’s possible that even Joe Lieberman, a fellow traveler in the religious right’s Schiavo and indecency jeremiads, could be swept out with Rick Santorum in the 2006 wave. Mr. Lieberman is hardly the only Democrat in the Senate who signed on to the war in Iraq, but he’s surely the most sanctimonious. He is also the only Democrat whose incessant Bible thumping (while running for vice president in 2000) was deemed “inappropriate and even unsettling in a religiously diverse society such as ours” by the Anti-Defamation League. As Ralph Reed used to say: amen."

I'm sure he's still praying. For an answer to why this had to happen because he has always been the golden boy. He forgot one of the earliest commandments and money became an idol. When are these guys going to learn that they can't have it both ways? That if you are going to believe in the Bible then you aren't exempt from walking the straight and narrow. That humility will get you farther in the long run than arrogance?

Somebody Else Noticed

May this be the first of many such Opinions.

Philadelphia Daily News | 07/20/2006 | And what about 'the angry right'?: "Unfortunately, most journalists and pundits are only vaguely familiar with how the blogosphere works. They don't understand the difference between a blogger and someone who posts comments on a blog, for instance - which is in some ways analogous to the difference between a reporter and someone who writes letters to the editor.

They don't appreciate that there are millions of bloggers, most of whom have tiny audiences, but there are some bloggers who matter more than others.

And most of all, they look at the blogosphere through the same prism they use to look at politics more generally, the one that says that extremism from the right is merely clever, witty rhetoric, whose practitioners deserve a megaphone to spread their views, while any sign of aggressiveness on the left signals a worrisome decline in civility and must be condemned and deprived of the media oxygen that might lend it any legitimacy.

The point is not that there's no one on the left who's angry - or even who says despicable things.

But if you want to find a liberal who threatens someone's life, you have to troll the Internet to locate somebody who threw up a comment on someone else's blog, or maybe someone who has a blog read by a dozen or so people.

On the other hand, where do you have to look to find conservatives who toss off hateful bon mots and who advocate violence against their political opponents (or anyone perceived to have crossed the Bush administration)?

You look on the cover of Time or the 'Today' show, both of which have featured the repellent Ann Coulter. You go to a lavishly funded right-wing organization like the Horowitz Freedom Center, whose leader, David Horowitz, is a near-constant presence on Fox News, where he can explain the nefarious linkage of liberalism that ties Roger Ebert to Ayman al-Zawahiri. (I'm not kidding. Horowitz put together a bizarre Web site called 'Discover the Networks' showing these kinds of links, a disturbing tour of the mind of the conservative conspiracy theorist.)"

So where have these "reprorters" been for the last five years? How could they not know? Isn't it their job to ask questions and get to the bottom of the story? Keyboard. Google. Enter/Return. Pretend like it's a magic typewriter that answers your questions by appearing on a screen instead of paper. With pictures if you need them. Makes me wonder. Do they even have computers? Or curiosity? Are all their stories so poorly researched? No wonder readership of newspapers is declining. Maybe it's the quality of the writing.

It is nice to see an editorial from our side. I don't know if anybody guessed, but this is how I see it also. Now, if only more papers would take up the call maybe tv would also and we might finally have a relatively informed public.

Instead of propaganda, a declining standard of living, a country that is out of touch with the world and no Osama been Forgotten being brought to justice. Alive, dead or by voodoo doll, it doesn't really matter.

Thanks to Skippy for finding this one.

Heat Induced Thoughts

Maybe this the earth's way of making room for all the melting water from the the poles. I doubt it, but it sounded good.

According to this old saying "nobody ever lays on their deathbed and says 'I should have put in more overtime'". No regrets. I learned that playing poker. When you lose, it is a long ride home unless you made peace with yourself before sitting down to play. The trick is to find your level and stick to it.

A reality show that seems to have accomplished something besides ratings. Good luck Britten. Keep up the good work!

Umm, duh! Sometimes it sucks to be right.

A few tips to help you beat the heat. You can also try modifying your diet. In chinese medicine the reason why most of these foods work is because they are bitter, which is considered to be a draining, cooling and clearing flavor. Or they are extremely high in water, mineral and electrolyte content. Either way, they will help to cool you off. You might lose weight and lower your chlesterl while you're at it.

You know that stuff that comes out the back end of a bull when the food has been digested?

Snicker. Good luck with that.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Bank of America Sucks The Big Weenie

I had an unauthorized charge to my account, the bank is making me wait for the refund. Bank of America sucks. I spent Wed, Thurs and a good chunk of this afternoon trying to get my money back. No can do until the money is refunded (13 days). They will not help. Bank of America sucks. They will refund all charges after the company (Bof A owned, otherwise known as thieves) refunds me my money, but meanwhile will bounce the check I wrote in good faith and then refund me the charges. Period. Bank of America sucks! Bank of America really sucks, but not as bad as that artificially cheerful music. I didn't understand how you could torture someone with music, until now.

This is destroying my credit and making it virtually impossible to feed myself for the next week. I cannot begin to tell you how angry I am. I spent over an hour in a 105 degree room, my head is pounding and all I can think of is how screwed the situation is and how much the supervisor sounded like an unhelpful robot (Hal, but female).

On the bright side, I'm not in Lebanon. I wonder if they still have to pay their Visa and Mastercard bills? Or did Israel figure that into their "we want to start World War III and make it look like we were justified" costs?

I can't believe I put Israel and money changers in the same post. 106 degrees now. Need water. Hate Bank of America and I hate banks.

Did I mention that Bank of America sucks the big weenie?

Lost My Purse

Think I left it in the basket at Costco last night. It is one of those wallet organizer things. Very small. Didn't realize I didn't have it until I went to look for my cell before I went to bed. This is really going to suck.

I've been working outside in what may euphemistically be called my front yard. I was weeding and putting up a white picket fence in the heat. I think it addled my brain.

Friday Random Ten - Looks like war and romance. Not that there is much difference.

1. Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream
2. Also Sprach Zarathustra by Deodato
3. Waiting For A Girl Like You by Foreigner
4. Old Time God
5. Peel Me A Grape by Diana Krall
6. Time Waits For No One by Ambrosia
7. Move it On Over by George Thorogood and the Destroyers
8. When The Tigers Broke Free by Pink Floyd
9. Romeo and Juliet: Love Theme by Arthur Fiedler
10. Keep On Smilin' by Wet Willie

Thursday, July 20, 2006

We Have Photos Of Strange Objects

On my test blog. These are R-Rated so they couldn't appear here. Please excuse the drapes, this where I play with my template when I get bored.

These pics cracked me up, so I decided to share them. What men do when they are bored. Who thinks up this stuff?

Ahem.

Thursday's Thoughts

As a rule I don't like antidepressants, I think they are overprescribed and that people want a chemical solution to an emotional issue. I would be interested in knowing how many conservatives and those of religious persuasion take antidepressants or other mood altering prescriptions to regulate their behavior. Now we are starting to see the studies showing the other effects on the body.

UPDATE 2-U.S. FDA warns of new antidepressant risks�|�Reuters.com: "Combining some antidepressants -- including Prozac and Zoloft -- with certain migraine drugs known as triptans could result in a life-threatening condition called serotonin syndrome, the FDA warned.

The agency also warned about a possible fatal lung condition in newborns whose mothers take certain antidepressants while pregnant."

I would use it, but I haven't seen one yet. Shai hates baths and she is so small that bending over in the tub is a pain. And the price is right.

The speculation continues. A year? A whole year or more before we find out? I have no choice but to wait.

Renovating your house? Contractors with benefits. I guess they are good at nailing.

Eleven months later and FEMA is still proving that its mission is not to help, but to control the spin.

Crazy, just crazy. I think some people who are running the country are infected already.

I was a victim of this myself the last time I was in the hospital. 1.5 million errors. Each year. Good thing they don't fly planes.

Salmon and spinach together. Healthy, quick and tasty.

They could keep their resolutions to themselves. The Lebanese people do not deserve to pay this price. If your issue is with Hezbollah you don't kill civilians, you figure out a way to go after the real enemy, not the bystanders. Who cares what we think anyway? We haven't found Osama been Forgotten and we forced another country into civil war. The greatness left this country a few years ago, now all we have are blowhards of a bygone century trying to maintain the illusion of relevancy.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Wednesday Bites

This sounds so good, I am going to have to find a place that serves this in San Jose. I love soba and this sounds just as good. Nice and cool during all this heat. Mom will love this too. She likes noodles and she likes soup, this will be just one more culinary adventure.

I heard about this in the seventies, fiber is your friend. You just have to remember to chew thoroughly and to increase your liquid intake. We like to say that you should drink your food and chew your liquids. It reduces the chances of choking and relieves indigestion, especially for those people with hiatal hernias. The more work you let the mechanical part of the digestive system perform, the less acid the stomach has to secrete to digest large chunks.

Cool food is okay, cold food and drink are considered to be rude to the digestive system. If the normal operating temperature is a little over 98 degrees, why would it work better in a colder environment? The reason for the refrigerator is to prevent bacteria growth and extend the shelf life, not to chill your salad so you can lose weight. Humans heated their food long before they learned to chill it.

This is a really cool site if you have broadband and don't mind registering. A different barbecue video every week with useful information and tips. Have I mentioned how much I love my Weber lately? They changed their site since I last linked.

What to eat, what to eat. It seems that moral and ethical dilemmas abound. For a country that reads labels and then eats bad food anyway, some people with money (and really good grocery stores) are paralyzed with indecision between organic, locally grown, work issues and any other neurotic thing they can think of. Plastic or paper? Paper. I can use it to start my barbecue.

Zucchini. They grill up nice, right along with the other squashes and eggplant for a quick vegetable side. Up until now I didn't realize their rich history.

More grilling stuff of the simple variety. I never thought about cooking mussels on the grill. Something new and different to try.

It's that time of year again. The Gilroy Garlic Festival is coming up next weekend. I have a specific routine that I follow. I try and arrive Sunday morning by 10:15 at the latest. I head straight over to the garlic ice cream, nothing like messing with your brain and tastebuds first thing in the a.m. Then I go to the escargot stand. This is probably my favorite stand food. Good price for all those tasty snails. The mushrooms aren't bad either. Then I get whatever excuse for beer they have (it's hot!) and go pick up my cookbook. I don't know why, I've never cooked one of the recipes but I have the last six years worth of recipes. Then it's off to see whatever is in the booths which takes me about 20-30 minutes. I watch the guys cook in the big tent and I'm out of the fair by 12:15, just when it gets hot and the people who are intent on drinking arrive.

It's pepper time! Oh yeah, I love spicy, just not as much as I used to. When I was in acupuncture school my teachers used to nod knowingly every time I said how much I enjoyed it. I enjoy a much more varied diet in the five flavor department as I've grown older.

Which includes sweet. I like a little bit of cinnamon and raw sugar in mine. Not too sweet and served with homemade whipped cream.

Oh well, enough avoidance. Have to go check on the state of the world, the radio is making it sound just as bad as yesterday.

Bummer.

Toga, Toga, Toga

Otter would have been preferable, Flounder would have been acceptable, but noooo, we got Bluto instead.

Animal House Summit - New York Times: "The open-microphone incident at the G-8 lunch in St. Petersburg on Monday illustrated once more that W. never made any effort to adapt. The president has enshrined his immaturity and insularity, turning every environment he inhabits - no matter how decorous or serious - into a comfortable frat house.

No matter what the trappings or the ceremonies require of the leader of the free world, he brings the same DKE diction, bearing and cadences, the same insouciance and smart-alecky attitude, the same simplistic approach - swearing, swaggering, talking to Tony Blair with his mouth full of buttered roll, and giving a startled Angela Merkel an impromptu shoulder rub. He can make even a global summit meeting seem like a kegger.

Catching W. off-guard, the really weird thing is his sense of victimization. He's strangely resentful about the actual core of his job. Even after the debacles of Iraq and Katrina, he continues to treat the presidency as a colossal interference with his desire to mountain bike and clear brush.

In snippets of overheard conversation, Mr. Bush says he has not bothered to prepare any closing remarks and grouses about having to listen to other world leaders talk too long. What did he think being president was about?

The world may be blowing up, and the president may have a rare opportunity to jaw-jaw about bang-bang with his peers, but that pales in comparison with his burning desire to return to his feather pillow and gym back at the White House.
{snip}
Perhaps it's that anti-patrician chip on his shoulder, his rebellion against a family that prized manners and diplomacy above all. But when bored or frustrated, W. reserves the right to be boorish - no matter if the setting is a gilded palace or a Texas gorge.

He treated Tony "As It Were" Blair like the servant in "The Remains of the Day", blowing off his offer to help with the Israel-Lebanon crisis, and changing the subject from substance to fluff at one point, noting about his 60th-birthday Burberry gift: "Thanks for the sweater. Awfully thoughtful of you." Then he razzed the British prime minister, who was hovering and wheedling like an abused wife: "I know you picked it out yourself."

After doing his best to undermine the U.N. and Kofi Annan, W. talked about the secretary general like a fraternity pledge he wanted to send out for more beer or a keg of Diet Coke: "I felt like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen."

His loosey-goosey confidence that everything could be fixed with a phone call - and not even a phone call made by him, and not even a phone call made to the Iranians, who have more control over Hezbollah - was striking. He seems to have no clue that his own headlong, heedless actions in the Middle East have contributed to the deepening chaos there, and to Iran's growing influence and America's diminished leverage."

Makes you long for the days of the little blue dress and cigar doesn't it? Nobody died because of a blow job but they certainly are dying because of a snow job.

I feel like getting on the phone and...but it's tapped. I could go to the bank...but they track financial transactions. I could move to New Orleans...but it isn't really there anymore. I could hope for things to change in 2008...but the civilized world doesn't have that long.

Next on the agenda. Food fight!

Tuesday Trolling Two

The blogosphere is aghast at the latest behavior from the Harasser in Chief. From A Liberal Dose to Dependable Renegade (she has the pics) to Desi and Skippy, his juvenile behavior is being discussed. What people haven't been talking about is the way his eyes were glazed and his jaw was slack. He didn't even look like he was focusing on what he was doing. At least he didn't leave Ms. Merkel any digestive presents.

Meanwhile over at Reconstitution (I can't comment there, the spamcatcher letters show up funky on my screen), ascap scab has a great post on the under or never reported stories that affect the world but not our precious little corner. Or the news organizations don't want to disturb our empty little heads with facts and figures. We might learn something and that would be dangerous to the status quo.

We never use this herb by itself, it is always in a formula that treats the underlying cause and not the symptom. There are very few single herb formulas in Traditional Chinese Medicine and they are for emergencies and short term use only. In California only acupuncturists are tested and licensed to practice herbology not the kid at the GNC store. It never ceases to amaze me how many of our toxic herbs people feel free to take because they heard it worked for something. There are many factors that I consider before prescribing a formula and sales isn't one of them.

Here is an old blonde joke to lighten your day.

THE PLANE IS ON ITS WAY TO HOUSTON WHEN A BLONDE IN ECONOMY CLASS GETS UP
AND MOVES TO THE FIRST CLASS SECTION AND SITS DOWN. THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT
WATCHES HER DO THIS AND ASKS TO SEE HER TICKET. SHE THEN TELLS THE
BLONDE THAT SHE PAID FOR ECONOMY CLASS AND THAT SHE WILL HAVE TO SIT IN THE
BACK.

THE BLONDE REPLIES, "I'M BLOND, I'M BEAUTIFUL, I'M GOING TO HOUSTON AND I'M
STAYING RIGHT HERE."

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT GOES INTO THE COCKPIT AND TELLS THE PILOT AND THE
CO-PILOT THAT THERE IS A BLONDE SITTING IN FIRST CLASS THAT BELONGS IN
ECONOMY AND WON'T MOVE BACK TO HER SEAT.

THE CO-PILOT GOES BACK TO THE BLONDE AND TRIES TO EXPLAIN THAT BECAUSE SHE
ONLY PAID FOR ECONOMY SHE WILL HAVE TO LEAVE AND RETURN TO HER SEAT.

THE BLONDE REPLIES, "I'M BLONDE, I'M BEAUTIFUL, I'M GOING TO HOUSTON AND I'M
STAYING RIGHT HERE."

THE CO-PILOT TELLS THE PILOT THAT HE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE THE POLICE
WAITING WHEN THEY LAND TO ARREST THIS BLONDE WOMAN WHO WON'T LISTEN TO
REASON.

THE PILOT SAYS, "YOU SAY SHE IS A BLONDE? I'LL HANDLE THIS. I'M MARRIED TO
A BLONDE. I SPEAK BLONDE."

HE GOES BACK TO THE BLONDE AND WHISPERS IN HER EAR, AND SHE SAYS, "OH, I'M
SORRY." AND SHE GETS UP AND GOES BACK TO HER SEAT IN ECONOMY.

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT AND CO-PILOT ARE AMAZED AND ASKED HIM WHAT HE SAID TO
MAKE HER MOVE WITHOUT ANY FUSS.

I TOLD HER, "FIRST CLASS ISN'T GOING TO HOUSTON"

Tuesday Trolling

This is such total BS and one of the reasons I no longer watch the game. Pete Rose isn't a favorite player of mine either but I still can't understand what gambling has to do with how many hits he had unless they are saying he could have had more and that's why he can't get into the Hall of Fame. Whatever.

Normally I'm not too fond of politicians, but I would vote for this guy. Who knew the Style section wasn't about clothes and makeup?

First it was the loose lips and now it's the free hands maneuver. That lack of respect for women and their bodies is amazing.

Civil war? Definitely. It just isn't civil.

Domo arigato.

It was just a matter of time. Between the cost of gas and the lack of renewable income, normal people are cutting back on expenses.

Neither one of these guys was playing good cards but since they were heads up it doesn't really matter.

Strange stats. Wonder what Bradshaw thinks.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Give Me A Break

Seriously. People are acting like Bush has never cussed in his life. Unbelieveable. Our leaders are people just like us. They eat, go to the bathroom, express themselves the way they want to and make asses of themselves the way they want to. Nothing new here, move along. The funny part about all of this is that they have to bleep the president because the FCC will fine them $300K if our delicate little ears hear the four letter word for excrement. Crap was not it.

We heard this accident and the ensuing explosions along with seeing the clouds of black smoke. This was absolutely awful and these kids were just waiting for the light.. In the blink of an eye everything can change. For the first time I was paranoid about driving for a few days. So sad.

Please don't click and drive. I have an adapter that fits into the cigarette lighter. The Honda didn't come with an ashtray or a plug. I'm sorry but I am not going to buy a car to fit my Ipod.

Okey dokey, it's your business, not mine.

Now that Lebanon is first in the news, do you think people will notice that there are still attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan is falling to the Taliban? Again. We have such short memories with no concept of history. Two weeks ago that was all the politicians talked about and how we didn't need to have a hard exit date. Hmm, do you think our troops are going to be needed elsewhere?

The happiest people on Earth. Literally.

As long as it doesn't scramble the ratings.

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