Thursday's Irritants

I had this great post ready to print and Firefox hung up on me. Session Manager was unable to restore the post since I hadn't saved it. That wasn't the first irritant this morning but it did make my jaw lock up. I can't remember all the snark and opinion that accompanied the links but here they are.

Find another job. I've written about this before and my opinion hasn't changed. It is just a short step from refusing to treat people for religious reasons to refusing to treat other races and nationalities. This is not acceptable.

They found The Scream, now I feel less anxious.

Did you know that drinking fruit and vegetable juice can help in Alzheimer's prevention? I just want to know if it still works if you have been mixing it with alcohol. Vegetable juice has less calories than fruit juice if you are watching your calories.

No Child Left Behind. What a joke. We are graduating kids who are functionally illiterate but this program's creator thinks that the program is as pure as Ivory Snow. No joke. Proving that she is a card carrying member of the "we don't need no stinkin reality" White House brigade.

Speaking of not based in reality, we now have Bush 3.0. Dude has more stories and excuses than sand on a beach. The explanations change faster than I can keep up. His goal before he leaves office? Leave the world as a burning ball of flame.

Poverty and poor health are related. Doh! Poor food, lack of education as well as poor access to preventative health care and voila', you have a recipe for disaster.

How about teaching them to behave in public and to be aware of their surrounding? Another short term solution that has life ramifications.

I would watch this movie. Interesting concept. It will never be shown in the United States, but it sounds fascinating.

Oops. Do rich people get convicted of crimes when they are innocent? Or is money in play in a different way? This story needs a little watching because I'm tired of war.

Wandering The Web

The Twelve Step Disaster Recovery Plan, by way of Driftglass. What a great sense of humor and an even better turn of phrase.

Stephen at Daily Brainwash found an article about a principal blaming black students for bringing down the school average. Over the loudspeaker.

Maybe No Child Left Behind was a mistake? Why should this program be exempt from the incompetence and short-sighted thinking that has accompanied every other policy of the Bush administration?

Rationalizing religion. The G (large or small) spot seems difficult to locate.

Food combining, the scientific way. Pretty useful information and a new subject for me to study. I love food.

Dude Swears He's Reading

Everything except PDBs.

In an interview on the Upper Ninth Ward’s desolate North Dorgenois Street, the president told NBC’s Brian Williams that, besides Camus, he had recently read a book on the Battle of New Orleans and “three Shakespeares.” A White House aide said one of them was “Hamlet.”

What could be more fitting? A prince who dithers instead of acting and then acts precipitously at the wrong moment, not paying attention when someone vulnerable drowns.

The president bristled when the anchor asked about criticism that his inept response had to do with a “patrician upbringing” and about whether he was asking the country to sacrifice enough. “Americans are sacrificing,” he said. “We pay a lot of taxes.”

Roads, schools and families are falling apart, but that doesn't count, not paying taxes that improve society does.

The last two days in Mississippi and New Orleans were W.’s play within the play. He took the role of the empathetic and engaged chief executive, rallying resources to save the Gulf Coast, even as the larger lens showed a sad picture of American communities that are still decrepit and hurting, while the Bush administration’s billions flow to reconstructing — or rather not reconstructing — Iraq.

You longed for this Crawford Hamlet to just go out there and say, “This just isn’t good enough.”

Instead, he gritted his teeth and put on his blandly optimistic cheerleader-in-chief role and talked about restoring “the soul’’ of New Orleans. It always makes me nervous when W. does soul talk.

Me too. Probably because he doesn't have one.

He was brazen enough to pose as the man of action even in a city ruined by his initial and continuing inaction. “I’ve been on the levees,’’ he told a crowd at a high school here yesterday. “I’ve seen these good folks working.’’

He spoke to a small number of residents in the boiling sun before the one house that had been tidily restored in a blighted neighborhood in Biloxi. Outside the TV frame, there was a toilet on its side in the yard of a gutted house. On one fence spoke there was a child’s abandoned stuffed toy.

At a stop at a building company in Gulfport, Miss., he chirped biblically: “There will be a momentum, momentum will be gathered. Houses will begat jobs, jobs will begat houses.”

Beget. Maybe he should read something a little more informative, like a dictionary.

Douglas Brinkley, the New Orleans writer who recounted the history of the trellis of failure, Republican and Democratic, federal, state and local, in “The Great Deluge,’’ noted that Mr. Bush was merely “sweating bullets trying to get the visit over with.”

“In the Republican playbook, Katrina’s a loser,’’ he said.

Try being a former resident of the Lower Ninth Ward.

Mr. Bush tells journalists he has been reading prodigiously, 53 books so far this year, with three bios of George Washington, two of Lincoln and one of Mao. He seems more attuned to his place in history and yet he doesn’t really seem to get that his presidency will be defined by rushing into one place too fast and not rushing into another fast enough.

Basic history reading that most people do before high school, but he's the President so it doesn't matter if he plays catch-up, does it?.

He has let Dick Cheney and Rummy launch Category 5 attacks on critics of the war. Darth Vader reiterated his nutty pre-emption policy, and Rummy compared critics of Iraq to Chamberlains who appeased Hitler, noting that “once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism.”

Somebody needs to corner the defense chief and explain that it’s not that we don’t want to fight terrorism, it’s that we want to do it efficiently and effectively. Why is it necessary to scare the country, make false connections between an ill-conceived war and fighting terror, and demonize critics with outrageously careless historical references to Hitler and fascism?

Because if Americans aren't scared they might notice that the country they thought they lived in has been replaced with an dictatorial replica. And a bad one at that.

Just Have To Live With It

I'm not real fond of Blogger Beta. The selection of templates suck and I have had to give up Haloscan comments for a little while. I will remove the annoying verification system, unless I get major spam, in which case it will make a reappearance.

For those people without a curious bone in their body, Blogger Beta is a wonderful thing. If you were learning to play (and enjoying it) with CSS and didn't mind playing around with your template, Blogger Beta is a royal pain in the tush.

I'm still working on the patio, it is getting quite involved. Next thing I know it will have heating and plumbing, or that is what it feels like.

I Screwed Up

I updated to Blogger Beta and am having some difficulties until I update my template. I will lose some of my favorite stuff and I'm hoping that Blogger will make raw html editing available by the end of the week. What is this fascination with iframes? Unfortunately I don't have time to futz with it today as I am still building the patio and depending on the amount of beer ingested this afternoon, I might still be working on it tomorrow.

Two weeks ago I knew nothing about construction and now I'm familiar with the lumber and hardware sections of Home Depot, Lowe's and OSH. I've been told I make a pretty good assistant (I fetch the beer, nails and other small items) and heights aren't bothering me as much. This is kind of fun and mom is enjoying the increased privacy. Shai just sleeps.

Meanwhile, did you know that over 40,000 people have deserted the United States military since 2000? Me neither.

One year later and we are still clueless. We could ask the Dutch for help, but that would eliminate all the opportunities for graft and corruption that all those corporations and their no-bid contracts have been enjoying.

Look who's back in the news. The cynic in me wonders why now. It isn't as if anybody in the administration has cared for the last few years and to casually mention that Bush had dropped the ball (as John Kerry had pointed out) at this late date....

Thanks to The Sideshow for the link to my Sort of Science rant.

Sort Of Science Sunday

Science has been dismissed by the Bush administration as unnecessary. From the dangers of cleaning up the debris from the towers after 9/11 to global warming to stem cell research, the right is determined to live in the dark ages and they want the rest of us to join them. No matter what science achieves, the Vatican will never approve and the conservative Christians will find another excuse to protect the un and never born. These are clumps of cells that will never become life but they can be used to save life.

Bush and his ilk know Jack about science and by choice they will never know more. All the right-to-lifers care about is bringing a child into the world. They don't care if it is suffering or will suffer a horrible disease. They don't care if the mother dies. They don't care if the home situation prevents the child from receiving a good start in life and then do their best to make sure the child pays for being born into the wrong family. They don't care if children spend their childhood in a violent foster care situation or in a group home, as long as no gay people are involved in loving and caring for them. Once the child is born, it is eligble for the death penalty if it doesn't assimilate correctly into their version of society. They don't care about people, they care about imposing their world view onto everyone. Sort of like the Taliban or their successors.

Motorhome, RV, 5th wheel or micro-home, it doesn't matter, McMansions are on their way out. Hopefully.

Somebody besides me thinks that our failing infrastructure is one of the biggest dangers the United States faces. Who would have ever thought that this great nation could be described as "fragile" and be correct?

The country of Chad believes that corporations should pay taxes, what a concept. Perhaps they could pay taxes in the US while making obscene profits. Somehow given the current political climate, I doubt it.

The Emmy's are tonight and I don't really care, it's the same people every year and my favorite never wins. Mom and I have been watching Kyle XY on iTunes. For an ABC Family show it is very adult and the storyline is fascinating. All the actors are excellent and the kids are real people. From Netflix I'm watching Sliders and enjoying it very much, so far. Yes, I love science fiction.

Tags: Bush, stem cells, science, micro-home, failing infrastructure, Vatican, Kyle XY, Sliders, science fiction, tv, entertainment, Debsweb

Web Wanderings

Ed from the Tao of Politics sent me this link on whether tall people are more intelligent than short people. I think he likes reading me tweak. Once again you can do anything you want with statistics or surveys. At 5'1" I find that most adults may be taller than me but I wouldn't say that most are smarter than me. From my perspective it looks like tall people are not as swift.

Now, do people on first impression think that I am mentally deficient? I am a short black woman and if you are the type of person that depends on stereotypes to form impressions, then I have to prove myself. This is more of an issue of prejudice, one that forms in early childhood and is perpetuated throughout life to justify the perks of being different. I had a friend that used to swear she wanted to come back in the next life as a tall blonde. She said the problem was that then short brunettes would be in vogue. Low self esteem and the other negatives associated with being short might be something that tall people like to point out to justify all the times they were given preferential treatment due to an accident of birth.

"As adults, taller individuals are more likely to select into higher paying occupations that require more advanced verbal and numerical skills and greater intelligence, for which they earn handsome returns," they wrote.

Maybe their teachers select for them, maybe they are groomed to the extremes while shorter people get less food, less attention and NO respect.

Where have all the shark attacks gone? Probably retired to the same place as missing blonde women, waiting in the wings until needed for a slow news cycle or a distraction from real world news. The numbers are the same year after year but the reporting isn't. More people died this year than last but we were busy with coal miners, JonBenet and avoiding the debacle in the Middle East.

Well, why not? The elderly will die off, the returning convicts can always go back to prison, the unemployed aren't paying taxes and the homeless don't vote. While I agree that children and the working poor need help, the elderly's position can never improve without help. Very shortsighted plan.

Interesting stats. Reduce death to a clinical observation and remove the human element and then war is okay, some of the troops might be safer in Iraq than at home. What bunk even though it does point out that black women are enlisting at a higher rate. That wasn't the focus of this report but it does make one wonder.

As if my family could produce pictures of holidays. Not. We don't even have pictures of us hanging out and can barely pull it together for a posed group photo. Why doesn't somebody just ask the kids if daddy was home for Christmas? They remember stuff like that because it is important to them.

Standing up for what you believe in should be encouraged and supported, especially if you believe that what you are being ordered to do is an illegal order or fraudulent war in Iraq.

Will Disney be downsizing also? Eight, nine or twelve planets, it doesn't really make a difference since we won't make it anywhere off of our current rock in my lifetime. China and Russia have a chance but the United States is falling behind in technology, economics and science education. If you can't read and do higher math, you can't build a decent space vehicle and you won't have the imagination to consider any alternatives.

Tags: Iraq, JonBenet, short people, Iraq death statistics, poverty, shark attacks, intelligence, tall people, space, technology, Debsweb

Backwards We Go!

This is ABSOLUTELY freaking shameful! Shameful! This can't be happening in America. Shades of my childhood.

The Shreveport Times: "
COUSHATTA -- Nine black children attending Red River Elementary School were directed last week to the back of the school bus by a white driver who designated the front seats for white children.

The situation has outraged relatives of the black children who have filed a complaint with school officials.
{snip}
'If the smoke is there, then there's probably fire somewhere else,' Panell said in a phone interview from New Orleans. 'At this point, it is extremely alarming. We fought that battle 50 years ago, and we won. Why is this happening again?'
{snip}
Red River Elementary School Principal Jamie Lawrence tried to rectify the seating situation when it was brought to her attention. But it was ultimately handled at the Central Office, Patricia Sessoms said.

Sessoms aunt, Iva Richmond, is the mother of two of the children, ages 14 and 15, and foster parent to three others, ages 5, 6 and 10. Janice Williams, who is the mother of the other four children, is Richmond's neighbor. All nine children catch the bus at a stop on Ashland Road.
(snip}
After Richmond and Williams filed complaints with the School Board, Transportation Supervisor Jerry Carlisle asked Davis to make seat assignments for her passengers, Sessoms said.

'But she still assigned the black children to the back of the bus,' she added.

And the nine children had to share only two seats, meaning the older children had to hold the younger ones in their laps."

What a load of crap. The comments from some Lousianans are just as backwards, my favorite being that black youth can't behave in public so this is a justifiable action. Pretty soon they will start wearing their hoods and sheets in the daytime. In public.

Katrina definitely hit the wrong people.

Tags: Katrina, racism, children, back of the bus, Debsweb

Cartoon Thursday

Found on Karyn's Stumble page. Ted Rall rocks.



The truth hurts, and then it sets you free.

Tags: Ted Rall, Stumbleupon, Iraq, interesting statistics, Debsweb

Not So Futuristic Thinking

Disaster seems to be a popular subject in the news and planning ahead doesn't seem to be very important to us. The paper of record has a TimeSelect editorial about repairing the nation's highways, byways, and energy.

Infrastructure — the catchall term for the backbone of our nation — is the kind of word that makes taxpayers want to roll over, hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. We ignore it and only complain when something breaks. No dummies, our lawmakers react accordingly. They approach the underpinnings of our nation’s future like school nurses, applying the equivalent of Band-Aids and aspirin.

Unfortunately, what ails Uncle Sam’s body is much more than nicks and bruises and there are no short-term remedies, much less miracle elixirs. It takes years to lay a comprehensive network of fiber-optic cable or dig a tunnel through bedrock. By the time we notice how bad things have gotten, the cost of doing business in this country may have grown prohibitively high, thanks to an unofficial and highly inefficient tax levied through broken truck axles and slow Internet connections.

Speaking of taxes, Las Vegas has eliminated the 24-7 wedding option. Now you have to get your marriage license before 8 pm. They didn't make enough money to justify keeping the office open.

Lions, tigers and bears, oh my! Actually, it is floods, tornadoes and hurricanes, it won't happen to me. Yes, it will.

In fact, 91% of Americans live in places at a moderate-to-high risk of earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, high-wind damage or terrorism, according to an estimate calculated for TIME by the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina. But Americans have a tendency to be die-hard optimists, literally. It is part of what makes the country great--and vincible. "There are four stages of denial," says Eric Holdeman, director of emergency management for Seattle's King County, which faces a significant earthquake threat. "One is, it won't happen. Two is, if it does happen, it won't happen to me. Three: if it does happen to me, it won't be that bad. And four: if it happens to me and it's bad, there's nothing I can do to stop it anyway."

The whole article is interesting and worth reading, maybe it will energize people to improve their neighborhoods. And I don't mean flowers, even though they are nice. I've been doing my front "yard" and even though it looks better, I will still have a few inches of mud unless I come up with a plan. I'm going to be building a front step and the rest of the porch awning today so mom will be able to enjoy the outside air with her cigarettes.

On the bright side of life, we now have Orion. That's the name NASA decided on for the replacement for the shuttle. They hope it will bring back the glory days of Apollo. While reading the article I was struck by the lack of futuristic thinking. They are planning to use this design for more than fifteen years. Why? Won't we have new technologies and materials along the way?

Tags: NASA, space, disaster, hurricanes, Orion, Las Vegas, weddings, Katrina, Debsweb

Left Or Right?

You Are 70% Left Brained, 30% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

H/T CmdrSue

Tags: quizzes, Blogthings, Debsweb

Color Me Unsurprised

Sigh.

ABC News: Injured Iraq Vets Come Home to Poverty: "Army Spc. Tyson Johnson III of Mobile, Ala., who lost a kidney in a mortar attack last year in Iraq, was still recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center when he received notice from the Pentagon's own collection agency that he owed more than $2,700 because he could not fulfill his full 36-month tour of duty.

Johnson said the Pentagon listed the bonus on his credit report as an unpaid government loan, making it impossible for him to rent an apartment or obtain credit cards.

'Oh man, I felt betrayed,' Johnson said. 'I felt, like, oh, my heart dropped.'"

Support the troops. Into pain, dismemberment and destitution. Then send them a bill for services and forget about them as human beings. They have obviously outlived their usefulness and are now burdens, not worthy of being supported by the GOP. Out of sight, out of mind, out of plans.

And budget.

Tags: GOP, veterans, poverty, Iraq, shameful, Debsweb

Tuesday's Thoughts

Keep it to yourself. People who hide a major secret are healthier than either those who reveal the most intimate details of their lives at the drop of a hat or the the ones who are so secretive that you don't know much about them even if you have known them for years. Confession is not always good for the soul. Or body.

Power, fame or fortune? My dad asked me when I was little which one I wanted. I have been no more successful at attaining a fortune than most people will have at being famous. Fortunately, I don't take it personally.

The universe is in the dark, and it matters.

If only I ran, but since I can barely walk at the moment, this is not an option. I have a brother who enjoys long sojourns pounding the ground in a rhythmic pattern, this is right up his alley.

Someone is on drugs. She will not always love you and her husband might want to exercise his prerogative and keep her to himself. When will you be caught instead of forgotten?

Do you suppose Osama has some of this instead? It wouldn't surprise me since he is more than capable of waiting until he determines an appropriate target and the perfect moment. Unlike our own dear leader.

Speaking of people who are not grounded in reality, this preacher needs a lesson in respecting your elders, a part of the Bible he seems to conveniently skip over.

Fat soluble vitamins are absorbed in the intestines and surgery might preventthe body from utilizing Vitamin A correctly, leading to night blindness and other ocular disturbances. Losing weight naturally should be tried before gastric bypass, preferably before you have had to buy clothes two sizes larger than last year.

Tags: gastric bypass, eye problems from abdominal surgery, Osama, missing nuclear material, Whitney Houston, running, Nike, nano, dark matter, keeping secrets, fame, Debsweb

Oh Please!

Give me a break. This guy is more disconnected from reality than I thought. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, but he has made that assumption impossible. He is delusional, especially when talking about war. It is not a time of joy? No s**t! Try living with bombs exploding and snipers killing people as they go to church. And he thinks that things are going to work out? He is definitely living in an alternate reality and should be removed from office. Unfortunately that won't change things in the Middle East since Duck! Cheney would prefer to nuke the whole area, right after he plunders what Halliburton wants.

230 million to help Lebanon? What about New Orleans? It is in our own country, shouldn't our taxes be to repair our own problems? When winter comes, will Americans be able to heat their homes?

John Kerry weighs in to the fray with a wonderful statement. If only he had shown the nation that he had cojones two years ago we wouldn't be in this mess.

Do us little people even matter anymore?

Tags: Bush, Cheney, Iraq, New Orleans, John Kerry, Debsweb

It's Flickr Monday!

IMG_0736, originally uploaded by gigapixel.

Following his breakout success as one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hermann knew that if he could cross the line first he would be considered for the role as the head turtle terrorist in the predictable sequel to Snakes On A Plane, entitled Turtles On A Train.

The premise is that Flynn has decided to vacation by train, not knowing that there are exotic turtles onboard destined for the dinner table of a murderous kingpin. Said turtles aren't happy and they have an escape plan but need a little help pulling the emergency stop.

Tags: random Flickr blogging, entertainment, movies, If I Ran The Zoo, humor, Debsweb

Two Columns For The Price of One

Frank's back and in fine form. He revisits his old stomping grounds as a theatre critic while at the same time demonstrating a political mastery that our present administration aspires to in their dreams.

Five Years After 9/11, Fear Finally Strikes Out - New York Times: "The administration’s constant refrain that Iraq is the “central front” in the war on terror is not only false but has now also backfired politically: only 9 percent in the CBS poll felt that our involvement in Iraq was helping decrease terrorism. As its fifth anniversary arrives, 9/11 itself has been dwarfed by the mayhem in Iraq, where more civilians are now killed per month than died in the attack on America. The box-office returns of “World Trade Center” are a cultural sign of just how much America has moved on. For all the debate about whether it was “too soon” for such a Hollywood movie, it did better in the Northeast, where such concerns were most prevalent, than in the rest of the country, where, like “United 93,” it may have arrived too late. Despite wild acclaim from conservatives and an accompanying e-mail campaign, “World Trade Center” couldn’t outdraw “Step Up,” a teen romance starring a former Abercrombie & Fitch model and playing on 500 fewer screens.

Ouch!

Mr. Lamont’s victory in the Connecticut Democratic senatorial primary has been as overhyped as Mr. Stone’s movie. As a bellwether of national politics, one August primary in one very blue state is nearly meaningless. Mr. Lieberman’s star began to wane in Connecticut well before Iraq became a defining issue. His approval rating at home, as measured by the Quinnipiac poll, had fallen from 80 percent in 2000 to 51 percent in July 2003, and that was before his kamikaze presidential bid turned “Joementum” into a national joke.

The hyperbole that has greeted the Lamont victory in some quarters is far more revealing than the victory itself. In 2006, the tired Rove strategy of equating any Democratic politician’s opposition to the Iraq war with cut-and-run defeatism in the war on terror looks desperate. The Republicans are protesting too much, methinks. A former Greenwich selectman like Mr. Lamont isn’t easily slimed as a reincarnation of Abbie Hoffman or an ally of Osama bin Laden. What Republicans really see in Mr. Lieberman’s loss is not a defeat in the war on terror but the specter of their own defeat. Mr. Lamont is but a passing embodiment of a fixed truth: most Americans think the war in Iraq was a mistake and want some plan for a measured withdrawal. That truth would prevail even had Mr. Lamont lost.

My sentiments exactly. It was a primary. Period.

Most of the 60 percent of Americans who oppose the war in Iraq also want to win the war against Al Qaeda and its metastasizing allies: that’s one major reason they don’t want America bogged down in Iraq. Mr. Lamont’s public statements put him in that camp as well, which is why those smearing him resort to the cheap trick of citing his leftist great-uncle (the socialist Corliss Lamont) while failing to mention that his father was a Republican who served in the Nixon administration. (Mr. Lieberman, ever bipartisan, has accused Mr. Lamont of being both a closet Republican and a radical.)

These commentators are no more adept at reading the long-term implications of the Connecticut primary than they were at seeing through blatant White House propaganda about Saddam’s mushroom clouds. Their generalizations about the blogosphere are overheated; the shrillest left-wing voices on the Internet are no more representative of the whole than those of the far right. This country remains a country of the center, and opposition to the war in Iraq is now the center and (if you listen to Chuck Hagel and George Will, among other non-neoconservatives) even the center right.

I don't care if they are front and center, it is past time to bring the troops home. Welcome to reality.

As the election campaign quickens, genuine nightmares may well usurp the last gasps of Rovian fear-based politics. It’s hard to ignore the tragic reality that American troops are caught in the cross-fire of a sectarian bloodbath escalating daily, that botched American policy has strengthened Iran and Hezbollah and undermined Israel, and that our Department of Homeland Security is as ill-equipped now to prevent explosives (liquid or otherwise) in cargo as it was on 9/11. For those who’ve presided over this debacle and must face the voters in November, this is far scarier stuff than a foiled terrorist cell, nasty bloggers and Ned Lamont combined."

If we have an election at all, I will be thrilled. The GOP has too much to lose and they aren't willing to give up power that easily. Losing gracefully isn't an option in their script for the future.

Destroying freedoms before Osama has a chance is their way of protecting us from ourselves since we don't know any better. Why should the unwashed masses have any say in their handbasket trip to H.E double hockey sticks?

Sheesh! You think this is America or something?

Tags: Frank Rich, Osama, fear, Debsweb

Lazy Day Links

Think Progress has a timeline of the Iraq war. So far. Absolutely fascinating. Although I remember every incident, it is difficult to believe that there were so many of them and that the situation is not getting better in the near future. It is one long list.

Shai Shai exhibits behavior just like this. Cute and manipulative, willing to take any roundabout means to get what she wants. Thanks to Urthwalker, who is traveling the country checking out all the major amusement parks.

Another half assed job, screwed up as usual. Bush must be proud of his track record. Two countries attacked and supposedly conquered, two countries reverting to civil war. Wow! We certainly made things better. I'm not too sure about safer, here or there.

If you are fascinated by weird sites, here is the Baby Boomer Death Clock. Interesting.

Try not to pee your pants, the General is in fine form. As usual.

Up, up and away! The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. Turn it over to commercial interests. It is the only way we are ever going to get anywhere.

Tags: Bush, Iraq, pugs, space, NASA, Debsweb

Western Civilization One

Was a class that the neocons decided to skip. Over and over again. Maybe it was because I grew up on military bases but if you can't understand that not everybody sees the world in the same way, you will be eternally frustrated that nobody plays by the rules. .

Where Is Euphrates Etiquette? - New York Times: "W., unschooled in Middle East quicksand politics, learned the hard way that too many Iraqis prefer jihad to Jefferson. The Iraqi forces can’t stand up so we can scamper out. The Shiites we gave the country to prefer Iran and Hezbollah to the U.S. and Israel. And our rebellious yet incompetent Iraqi puppets have had the temerity to criticize both the U.S. and Israel for brutal behavior in the region.

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child, as the Bard said, and the Bush administration has always condescendingly treated Iraq as though it were an ungrateful child. Rummy, Paul Wolfowitz and Republican lawmakers liked to compare the occupied nation to a tyke on a bike. “If you never take the training wheels off a kid’s bicycle,’’ Wolfie would say, “he’ll never learn to ride without them.’’

As if Bush can ride a bike. Or a Segway. Sheesh.

Carole O’Leary, an American University professor who is working in Iraq on a State Department grant, told The Times that Mr. Bush offered the view that “the Shia-led government needs to clearly and publicly express the same appreciation for United States efforts and sacrifices as they do in private.”

Naturally, Tony Snow denied that President Resolute was frustrated. But if W. can behold how his plans have backfired and not be frustrated, then he’s out of touch with reality. And the reason W. is meeting with outside experts is to demonstrate that he is, too, in touch with reality. Even though he doesn’t use that expertise to reshape his plan in Iraq, which shows again that he’s out of touch with reality.

Reviewing Paul Bremer’s book in The New York Review of Books, Peter Galbraith wrote: “In Bremer’s account, the president was seriously interested in one issue: whether the leaders of the government that followed the [Coalition Provisional Authority] would publicly thank the United States. ... Bush had only one demand: ‘It’s important to have someone who’s willing to stand up and thank the American people for their sacrifice in liberating Iraq'"

Why doesn't Bush try and thank the soldiers for their sacrifice? Like the ultimate one. Is it too much to ask him to attend a few funerals? Are they not worthy of consideration and respect? How about making sure that they have the help (medical, mental and emotional) to assimilate successfully into society?

How about leading instead of pointing in the general direction?

Tags: Bush, Iraq, Modo, Maureen Dowd, Debsweb

Heard This Morning

Why does Al Gore want a nipple ring?


Because George Bush has a Dick Cheney.

Tags: Bush, Cheney, humor, joke, Debsweb

The Fantasy Edition

The dream world that Bush and Congress exist in is a complete mystery to me. How exactly is a person that works at Wal-Mart supposed to save for retirement? It isn't that they don't want to, but how? What about all those people on the minimum wage that hasn't been raised in ten years? How about those who are unemployed because their jobs have been outsourced to some other country? Or the workers were brought here? I'm not Albert Einstein, but I can think and operate a calculator and the math is funky.

Bush to sign massive pension overhaul - Retirement - MSNBC.com: "Lawmakers allowed workers to contribute more to their personal retirement savings accounts, such as IRAs and 401(k)s, in future years. Employers can encourage their workers to save by automatically enrolling them 401(k) retirement accounts.

Financial firms will get greater leeway to offer advice to those 401(k) and IRA savers on how best to invest their retirement nest eggs."

Don't forget to dumpster dive for that perfect gift before you take your date for that walk on the beach, per the advice in the handbook that Northwest Airlines had prepared for the ground workers whose jobs are being outsourced. Maybe they can get jobs at Legal Services, being a member of the board should solve their financial problems.

In addition to contributing to a retirement fund that won't cover their old age, let us not forget health insurance. This is a start, but as the price of gas continues to increase which will cause the price of food to rise, those at the lower end of the financial divide will need that $29 for something else. It doesn't sound like a lot of money, but if you are a creative cook you can make quite a few one pot meals. They won't be fancy, but if necessary that could be a weeks worth of food instead of an appetizer and a cocktail at some fancy restaurant. One they probably work at, in the back where you can't see them. California is working on another plan, we'll see.

What if the economy slows down? Can you save for retirement when you have no money coming in? Ten percent of zero, is zero.

It just costs more money to live, which is easy to miss when all your bills (health, life insurance, retirement and travel) are paid by the very same taxpayers (and lobbyists) that you purport to know how to improve their lives.

This is more of a nightmare than a fantasy.

When will we wake up?

Tags: Bush, food, stupid ideas, economy, retirement, pension fund, inflation, cost of living, Northwest Airlines, Debsweb

Fascinating

Your results:
You are Spock

You are skilled in knowledge and logic.
You believe that the needs of the many
outweigh the needs of the few.



Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test


Thanks Mark!

Tags: star trek, quizzes, Debsweb

Wednesday Recipe Roundup

First we start with a little science in the news. I'm sorry, but the geek in me won out. We might have a new solar system. Loving space as much as I do, it was fun to look at the new drawings . I guess somebody is going to have to come up with a new mnemonic (my very enormous monster just sucked up nine planets is my favorite.) When I was in either fifth or sixth grade, we did a play that the class had written. It was about traveling to the planet Sunaru. Must have been fifth grade because we couldn't say the planet Uranus without cracking up. We had costumes and props. It was a lot of fun.

Feed me. My favorite fruity vegetable. I love tomatoes and my lone plant is doing well, I've found five tomatoes and quite a few flowers. I hold out hope that they will ripen so I can serve them with the fresh basil that is also in the garden and a touch of olive oil.

Quick one pan meals are a great idea for hot days, especially if you are tired of grilling. Lavender is a wonderful herb, it tastes as good as it smells. The melon soup recipe sounds good, but this is my favorite cold soup. I increase the spices (which I do on just about every recipe), mom just loves this one.

Click on the Bildstrecke starten link under the tiger to see the extremely cute animals enjoy their frozen treats.

For those of you who like to play with your food, here is the Mentos/Diet Coke experiment. Please try the trick outside. I can see where these two items might not be allowed on an airliner.

Tags: food, recipes, science, new planets, tomatoes, Debsweb

The Littlest Things

Make some people very happy. While everyone else is swooning over the First Renter and his reading of 'The Stranger', I'm thrilled to discover that he can read. Everybody but me seems to be reading it. Next thing you know it will be this summers Da Vinci Code. Presidential Daily Briefs weren't deemed to be very important, but the Presidents reading of a classic work of fiction merits a whole column by Modo.

Camus Comes to Crawford - New York Times: "One is Jean Girard, the villainous gay French race car driver hilariously played by Sacha Baron Cohen (a k a Ali G and Borat) — the sinuous rival to Will Ferrell’s stocky Ricky Bobby in “Talladega Nights.”

Girard, a jazz-loving, white-silk-scarf-wearing, America-disdaining Formula Un driver sponsored by Perrier, is so smooth he can sip macchiato from a china cup, smoke Gitanes and read “L’Etranger” behind the wheel and still lead the Nascar pack.

Frenchie contemptuously informs “cowboy” Bobby that America merely gave the world George Bush, Cheerios and the ThighMaster while France invented democracy, existentialism and the m�nage �trois.

The other guy kindling to Camus is none other than the aforementioned George Bush, who read “The Stranger” in English on his Crawford vacation and, Tony Snow told me, “liked it.” Name-dropping existentialists is good for picking up girls, as Woody Allen’s schlemiels found, or getting through the clove-cigarette fog of Humanities 101. But it does seem odd that W., who once mocked NBC’s David Gregory as “intercontinental” for posing a question in French to the French president in France, would choose Camus over Grisham.

Camus is not beach reading — or brush reading. How on earth did this book make it into the hands of our proudly anti-intellectual president?"

He probably thought he was reading a biography of the Wilson sisters.

As if he reads, dude doesn't even watch tv unless it's sports. What does he do to relax when he isn't falling off some piece of sports equipment or insulting another head of state? Hmmm.

With everything else that is going on in the world, George's so-called reading list doesn't interest me in the least. Not one flipping bit. Not. One. Iota.

Tags: Bush, Modo, Maureen Dowd, presidential reading list, Camus, Debsweb

Joke of the Day 8/15/06

I haven't done a joke in ages. Enjoy!

On the farm lived a chicken and a horse, both of whom loved to play together.

One day the two were playing, when the horse fell into a bog and began to sink.

Scared for his life, the horse whinnied for the chicken to go get the farmer for help!

Off the chicken ran, back to the farm. Arriving at the farm, he searched and searched for the farmer, but to no avail, for he had gone to town with the only tractor.

Running around, the chicken spied the farmer's new Harley.

Finding the keys in the ignition, the chicken sped off w ith a length of rope hoping he still had time to save his friend's life.

Back at the bog, the horse was surprised, but happy, to see the chicken arrive on the shiny Harley, and he managed to get a hold of the loop of rope the chicken tossed to him.

After tying the other end to the rear bumper of the farmer's bike, the chicken then drove slowly forward and, with the aid of the powerful bike, rescued the horse!

Happy and proud, the chicken rode the Harley back to the farmhouse, and the farmer was none the wiser when he returned.

The friendship between the two animals was cemented: Best Buddies, Best Pals.

A few weeks later, the chicken fell into a mud pit, and soon, he too, began to sink and cried out to the horse to save his life!

The horse thought a moment, walked over, and straddled the large puddle.

Looking underneath, he told the chicken to grab his hangy-down thing and he would then lift him out of the pit.

The chicken got a good grip, and the horse pulled him up and out, saving his life.

The moral of the story? (yep, you betcha, there IS a moral!)

"When You're Hung Like A Horse, You Don't Need A Harley To Pick Up Chicks"

Tags: joke, humor, harley, horse, chick, Debsweb

Noodling The Web

I haven't been posting as much, I seem to be suffering a little burnout. I admit to preferring comedy to death and destruction and there hasn't been that much funny (no haha, plenty of peculiar) to post about. Our so-called president and his trustless companions are still clueless, the economy is still tanking and Osama is still nowhere to be found. Myopia abounds.

I don't think all kids are brats, I think their parents are self involved and very indulgent. If your child doesn't listen to you and behave when they are small, you can forget any semblance of control when they are teenagers. Respect works. Kids definitely need more exercise, fresh air, water and regular sleep, but they need less sugar. They need to be able to run around for as long as they want to, but not in restaurants or movie theatres. Public places such as parks, sports areas and amusement parks are appropriate venues for manic outbursts of activity, not where adults have conversations that children shouldn't hear.

I like squash. From pumpkin to zucchini, I enjoy them all. This might be an interesting recipe to get the little ones started on the path to veggies. I might make it this evening.

If we actually have an election, you can expect this to happen in more than six states. Not looking good for democracy and freedom. We are so busy bringing it to other countries, we forgot ourselves.

My kind of humor. When the going gets tough, I start cracking one liners, I just can't help myself. As bad as the Lebanese situation is, it is nice to see that they have been able to see the funnier side of life. I just can't imagine a 30 year joke. It was funny, though.

You make your bed, you lie in it. Alone. What did they expect? Respect? From the White House? Perhaps if they had been doing their job for the last seven years, we and they wouldn't be in the position we are in now. Shroomsville. In the dark and being fed a lot of crap.

Don't let the Feds know. They will find some way to make the states fork it over.

No skills before Katrina, no skills after. The people were just displaced and forgotten. Till the next time.

Tags: Bush, Katrina, recipe, press, exclusion, humor, election fraud, squash, children, misbehaving in public, Debsweb

Another One

Of the pills that Americans thoughtlessly put into their mouths is a multivitamin. Without a proper evaluation of your diet, lifestyle and living circumstances, taking any "one size fits all" type of medication can be dangerous.

Diet high in copper, fat speed mental decline - Alzheimer's Disease - MSNBC.com: "Copper, which has been found at higher levels in the blood of Alzheimer’s patients, is normally consumed in animal organs like liver, and in shellfish, nuts, legumes, some fruits, potatoes and chocolate. Drinking water that travels through copper pipes can also contain copper. Many of those in the study with high copper levels got it primarily through multivitamins.

The U.S. daily recommended intake of copper is 0.9 milligrams, while study subjects with the most copper consumed at least 1.6 milligrams per day."

Extra iron should also be avoided.

Speaking of a good thing gone wild, let me weigh in on the soy controversy. In TCM we do not advise everybody to eat soy. If you have a fast metabolism, run a little warmer than the people around you and can't sit still, you can eat soy as a substitute for meat a little more than someone who doesn't do all those things. If you have a tendency to retain water and are cold, you should avoid it 85% of the time. Nourishing soups are your best bet.

Tags: copper, iron, soy, alzheimer's, multivitamins, food, Debsweb

Why Can't We Be Friends?

IMG_5929.JPG, originally uploaded by dav.

The Chimperor and former BFF, YoTony, fight with all the wits in their possession, neither realizing the prize is a soccer ball instead of the coveted "football".

Tags: random Flickr blogging, If I Ran The Zoo, Debsweb

The Ownership Society

Isn't really working to most Americans benefit. In another shining example of presidential disconnect, the "administration" has decided to once again disregard Congress' and the people's wishes by using regulation instead of referendum. Bush has decided to go from signing statements to bypassing Congress altogether. The GOP just isn't what it used to be. They spend money like it's oil, while creating more rules, regulations and paperwork. Very strange. Expensive too!.

This new attempt at creating a permanent underclass has the earmarks of spite and uncontrolled power. After eliminating good paying jobs by sending them overseas, limiting access to higher education to the already privileged few, redefining worker salary status to eliminate overtime pay, spending the citizens hard earned tax dollars in the foolish pursuit of a "global war on terror" while the surplus bloomed into crushing debt for the coming generations to pay, and after ignoring the largest natural disaster to ever befall a major city since the 1906 earthquake, he now wants to reduce Medicaid payments to hospitals (as if he pays his own medical bills!) in an extremely misguided effort to control costs instead of causes.

Planned Medicaid Cuts Cause Rift With States - New York Times: "More than 330 members of Congress, including 103 Republicans, have objected to the plan. A letter signed by 82 House Republicans says it “would seriously disrupt financing of Medicaid programs around the country.” A bipartisan group of 50 senators recently urged President Bush to scrap the proposed rules, which were set forth in his 2007 budget and could be issued before the end of this year.

Medicaid finances health care for more than 50 million low-income people, with money provided by the federal government and the states.

Under the White House plan, the federal government would reduce Medicaid payments to many public hospitals and nursing homes by redefining allowable costs. It would also limit the states’ ability to finance their share of Medicaid by imposing taxes on health care providers. About two-thirds of the states have such taxes."

Yep, cut the revenue from both ends, thereby ensuring that the system breaks of its own volition. Nursing homes. Like the ones in Louisiana that couldn't evacuate their patients? When will people wake up and realize that these guys want to turn the nation into a feudal society? The concentration of wealth and benefits at the top end of society is completely out of proportion to the reality of the average Americans lifestyle.

While the proportion of Americans living in poverty is increasing, the ability of society to stanch the flow and reverse the trend, is being destroyed. If you can't earn more than what Wal-Mart pays and the price of gas keeps going up, you have no income left over for college or health insurance. Food either, but that is a different story. People are using emergency rooms at an ever increasing rate because they don't have coverage, so they wait until they can't take it anymore and that costs society more in the long run.

Yes, there is waste. Not on the scale of FEMA, but improvements can definitely be made. Reducing Medicaid payments to hospitals is not an improvement, it is a draconian effort to reduce a section of society to the equivalent of movie extras wandering the polluted streets in Blade Runner.

Medical care should be provided to every American. Equally. Not designer medicine for the rich, ridiculously high premiums, co-payments and payments for the dwindling middle class and whatever is left over for the rest of us.

As the Bush administration pursues its policies of giving to those who don't need and punishing those who do, at what point will America say "we have had enough"? From eliminating medical care for returning injured veterans to the illnesses of the 9/11 workers, Bush has shown a wilfull disregard for the health, home, liberty and happiness of the majority of America's citizens. How much more obvious can he be?

This post was written listening to:
1. Time Tough by Toots & The Maytals
2. Love theme from "Romeo & Juliet" by Henry Mancini
3. Angels Among Us by Pamela Williams
4. The Dream of the Dolphin by Enigma
5. Peel Me A Grape by Diana Krall
6. Every Ship Must Sail Away by Blue Merle
7. Old Time God
8. Born In America by Robert Bradley
9. Same Old Scene by Bryan Ferry
10. Lush by Ottmar Liebert
11. I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite by Boyce & Hart
12. My Prerogative by Bobby Brown
13. My Head's In Mississippi by ZZ Top

Tags: Bush, Katrina, Medicaid, cuts, stupid ideas, iPod, 9/11, Debsweb

Brilliant Satire

Forced Perspective

Priceless, just priceless. I love good satire and this is one of the best in recent memory. Watch all the way to the end, it will make you think.

Tags: Iraq, Bush, humor, Jon Stewart, satire, Debsweb

Forgotten Words From The Past

Not much has changed in eighty years.

Let me tell you who are the children of my Lebanon.

They are farmers who would turn the fallow field into garden and grove.

They are the shepherds who lead their flocks through the valleys to be fattened for your table meat and your woolens.

They are the vine-pressers who press the grape to wine and boil it to syrup.

They are the parents who tend the nurseries, the mothers who spin the silken yarn.

They are the husbands who harvest the wheat and the wives who gather the sheaves.

They are the builders, the potters, the weavers and the bell-casters.

They are the poets who pour their souls in new cups.

They are those who migrate with nothing but courage in their hearts and strength in their arms but who return with wealth in their hands and a wreath of glory upon their heads.

They are the victorious wherever they go and loved and respected wherever they settle.

They are the ones born in huts but who died in palaces of learning.

These are the children of Lebanon; they are the lamps that cannot be snuffed by the wind and the salt which remains unspoiled through the ages.

They are the ones who are steadily moving toward perfection, beauty, and truth.

What will remain of your Lebanon after a century? Tell me! Except bragging, lying and stupidity? Do you expect the ages to keep in its memory the traces of deceit and cheating and hypocrisy? Do you think the atmosphere will preserve in its pockets the shadows of death and the stench of graves?

Do you believe life will accept a patched garment for a dress? Verily, I say to you that an olive plant in the hills of Lebanon will outlast all of your deeds and your works; that the wooden plow pulled by the oxen in the crannies of Lebanon is nobler than your dreams and aspirations.

I say to you, while the conscience of time listened to me, that the songs of a maiden collecting herbs in the valleys of Lebanon will outlast all the uttering of the most exalted prattler among you. I say to you that you are achieving nothing. If you knew that you are accomplishing nothing, I would feel sorry for you, but you know it not.

You have your Lebanon and I have my Lebanon.

I guess he would be considered a member of some terror society if he was among us today. That would be wrong.

h/t The Truth Will Set You Free.

Tags: Khalil Gibran, Lebanon, Debsweb

Thursday's Threat Assessment

They really do think we are dumb, therefore Bert and Ernie have made their appearance in my sidebar.

Timing is everything and this latest alert looks very suspicious. Lieberman loses and the scare tactics come out of the woodwork. If Britain had been watching these guys for a while, what made them act yesterday of all days? If you can't lie to the people, if you can't tell them the truth, then you must invent scenarios to control the people. Fear is a great motivator and this administration has used it over and over again to great effect.

The airline stocks are taking a hit, people are running around saying things that are reminiscent of 9/11. That would be 2001, for those people whose memories are short.

Liquids and electronic devices are now suspect. As one guy said on the radio this morning, he can see a day when all travelers are nude and sitting on benches. You can forget the idea of talking on your cell phone while in the air and your iPod might not be allowed either. All in the name of safety (aka power and control). This was about a plot coming into the country, so of course we overreact.

This isn't going to help the direction of compassion and tolerance that this country used to pride itself on. Speaking of people forced to wear badges, how is Israel doing in its battle with Hezbollah? That disappeared right off the front pages. Iraq? That is sooo yesteryear. This is making me long for the days of a missing blonde woman.

I am not disputing the fact that there may have been a plot, I just find the timing and the reaction to be suspiciously convenient. Way too convenient.

Tags: Bush, Iraq, iPod, stupidity, Lebanon, Israel, terror alert, Britain, hair gel, Lieberman, suspicious timing, Debsweb

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom is 76 years old today. She was born in Germany in 1930, became an American in 1958 (proudest day of her life) and still goes to work four days a week. Betty Boop is also 76.

You share the day with Sam Elliott (actor), Pamela Travers (Mary Poppins creator), Doug Williams (quarterback), Ken Norton (boxer), Melanie Griffith and Whitney Houston (divas).

Mom's favorite food is sushi, but she is working today so I can't take her out for dinner, even if I could afford it. I'm hoping something nice happens to her today, since I'm falling down on my end.

Speaking of food, I love the flavor of lemongrass. It seems I'm not the only one. I will definitely try this chicken recipe.

Simply Recipes is a wonderful site, with recipes, equipment and shopping information. It is well written and easy on the eyes.

So far all I have growing is basil, which is a good thing since I also have six little tomatoes in the garden and they should be ripe shortly. I would like to have more herbs in the garden, the flavor they impart to food is phenomenal.

If Shai and I are ever in town, we will be sure to hit this place up. One black pug should get a little more notice amongst those yellow labs. Dogs have to eat too.

I like to make this salad with green apple and cabbage. They add roughage, crunch and vitamins. You can also vary the flavors of the dressing to suit your tastebuds. Salty, sweet, sour, spicy. Accentuate whichever one you want.

I still have a little German vinegar in the cupboard, maybe I will make German potato salad to accompany dinner tonight. A nice jaegerschnitzel will be a change from the asian meals I have been making lately. I might have to wait for cooler weather. We'll see.

Tags: mom's birthday, food, recipes, chicken, lemongrass, dining with your dog, salads, german food, Debsweb