Major Crybaby

Waah, waah, waah. The poor little darkie. Nobody likes me, everybody was mean to me. that girl lied about me and ruined my reputation and all I got for it was this lousy lifetime job that lets me impose my very strict views on those who didn't have my opportunities. Pompous bastard. Whoop-dee-damn-do yourself. Just like the majority of people who get to a position of power after feeling like the world never gave them a fair break, he has consistently used that power to ensure that no one else has the opportunity to follow in his footsteps. SIOOMA.

No They Di'nt

Do you have trouble getting started in the morning? Michael Medved's latest article about the U.S. and slavery is guaranteed to bring you to a slow boil as you read it. He slings dates, names and quotes in an effort to justify the United States involvement in slavery. He glosses over the real problem, which is that though blacks are no longer physically owned, bought or sold in America anymore, the perception and treatment of blacks as little more than animals, persists. He feels comfortable enough with the idea to use historical references which refer to slaves as wild animals that must be tamed or that some people are designed by nature to be slaves and then brings up the tired old canard that everybody else did it but we only did it for a short time. 300 years and only 89 of those were after the republic was founded. Oh yeah, and that it has been 142 years since then so why is everybody still feeling persecuted? I'm proud that America helped to lead the way in abolishing a heinous practice, but it would be really nice if the thoughts and attitudes had changed positively along with it.

Can we say token? Debra Dickerson is on my last nerve. I have agreed with her before, but not this time. Her attitude towards the Jena 6 is more reflective of a privileged white person than a woman who empathizes with people suffering from a severe injustice. In her earnest attempt to prove that she is an educated Negro, she decides that the rallies in Jena were for the wrong reason and goes on to write a paragraph that I would expect from Rush Limbaugh or the head of the Ku Klux Klan.

They came together as one as they like to do once a decade or so, then got back on their long haul buses and went home. No doubt, the kente cloth and waist-lengths 'locks were glorious to behold as they rode home in triumph. To dangerous neighborhoods, underperforming schools, and obese kinfolk praised for preferring prayer to prescription meds. Or, perhaps, to continue being an "only;" only black in the neighborhood, only black in management, only black in the Philosophy Department. The only black who's sick of one-shot wonder marches, rallies and protests? Sick of preformatted analyses which gloss over black quiescence or perfidy (OJ, anyone?) and unerringly conflate the forest with the trees?

That sounds like she blew it out her ass. The point she misses is as obvious as the discrimination against the black people in Jena. I'm certainly not going to get upset at what happens to OJ (what a freaking dunce), but this isn't really about Mychal Bell (he's out on bail) anymore, it is about how prevalent racism still is in our supposedly enlightened society. Especially when it is practiced by one of our own. Given her point of view on this matter, it makes me wonder if she thinks that a rape victim's sexual history should be used to excuse a rapists behavior at trial.

Oh yeah, the issue for most of us has been the obvious double standards that were applied all the way through this case and she is a prime example. I liked her better when she was whining about Owen Wilson.

Fact, Fiction And Disdain

Fiction was my reading matter of choice when I was younger with an emphasis on science fiction. The internet changed all that by extending relatively instant access to all the geek articles one could want on almost any subject. No more dusty stacks or hefty subscriptions to read one or two articles. What fascinates me is how much of fiction actually comes to pass. This morening two stories illustrate the wildly different futures that could be in store for us. One is about space exploration, using technology that used to be considered fiction (ion engines) to reach new worlds. The other is about using technology to control, restrict and censor a particular point of view, which is reminiscent of a certain numerical work of fiction. Unfortunately for me, Verizon is my cell and internet provider and I'm not in a position to switch to the one with the cool phone and have them listen in on my calls and report to the government. Now it seems that the bad publicity has made Verizon change its official position. They're just sorry they got caught.

One more reason why I don't think that the 2008 elections are going to happen. Everyday that passes by, the GOP shows more and more that they don't care about their constituents or any consequences, such as unemployment. David Broder thinks they are lemmings who just can't help themselves, it's more likely to be a little more sinister than that. They had to be promised something to once again publicly reveal their contempt for those who need help the most. This is in addition to funding a war that the voters don't want. They. Just. Don't. Care. And they don't care who knows it.

No. See above.

Out Of Control

Nooses at the Coast Guard Academy and antisemitism is on the rise. Do you suppose it has something to do with setting people against each other so they can't work together to prevent the destruction of democracy in America? And no, the internet is not responsible for people's bad thoughts or behaviors. That would be the responsibility of talk show hosts that say whatever stupid thing they think they can get away with. Maybe they should ratchet down the crap and use their heads instead of their ass when they make public comments.

From too much traffic to boarded up shops on main street. Who didn't see that coming? Besides the fact that these laws were illegal, immoral, and more than likely racist, they were also stupid. Back in the sixties my dad pointed out something that I never forgot. Green speaks. Louder than any foreign language or color of skin. Sometimes it costs a lot more than people anticipate when they decide to discriminate.

The DA from Jena mewls about how we don't understand, but he was only doing his job. He can only prosecute the laws that are on the books and since nooses (what about burning crosses?) are not considered to be violent threats or racial intimidation, he could only prosecute the ones he knew he could convict. He then gives a sanitized sob story about the victim, totally forgetting about the black kids who had been physically accosted before then and no charges were filed against the perpetrators. Wasn't that kind of the point of the demonstrations? Different laws for different colors? We understand more than he thinks. Like maybe it is time for a new civil rights movement.

Hopefully that would start in the colleges, but it looks like some of the students are having a little difficulty with the concept of playing nice with others. I thought this crap was over forty years ago. A bat is definitely a deadly weapon. A sneaker isn't. Somebody let the prosecutor in Jena know.

As if most American care, but what would all this look like to an Iraqi? Or anyone else for that matter.

I want my country back. The one where for just a few years during the seventies we at least tried to get along. Back when we had such high hopes of our country going forward into the future, not back to a past of racism, prejudice and intolerance.

Off The Cuff Observations

Not that I care if George Will takes offense, but his latest article was so boring that my eyes kept glazing over. If he wants to convince someone that the MoveOn.Org ad was illegal, immoral or wrong, he should come up with some snappier verbiage and quit resorting to obfuscation. Every time I tried to finish it, my brain kept thinking about how he sounds like a really old, dusty, self involved professor who is long past his prime but doesn't know what to do with himself if he retires. Maybe he could write a book on baseball.

So, I'm hanging out at Raw Story this evening and they had some pretty provocative headlines, and I thought I would respond to them the way they popped into my brain.

Bill O'Reilly is "guilty of operating on stereotypes". No kidding? You mean it isn't because he is an arrogant racist who is surprised that black people bleed red, as the Rude One so elegantly put it? I wonder if Billy boy knows that black people have sex the same way as he does? Probably without the falafel though. Like he would turn down a suddenly senile or severely drugged Halle Berry. Not likely.

Of course "bait and kill" is a war crime. For all the snipers know, people could be regarding the bait as something that needs to be removed before the bad people get it. These were living breathing people in their own country. They were neither target practice nor a video game. It's hard to believe how morally compromised we have become that anybody would think this was appropriate or legitimate behavior. We blew past shameful, took a hard right at disgusting and are hurtling downhill at breakneck speed toward lining people up at the gas chambers of evil.

Yeah, right. Of course they realize that they are collecting information on innocent Americans. At least they are innocent now. No telling what will be considered a crime in a few years.

Conspiracy theory alert! It's a whopper! And if it is even remotely true ...

Inquiring minds want to know why are GOP candidates avoiding minority voters? Um, because they didn't go out to dinner in Harlem with Bill O'Reilly and so they don't know that black people know how to behave in public even if it isn't a rap concert or welfare line? Besides, it isn't as if we have enough money to sway their votes on issues like letting the people of Washington D.C. have a say in the government that squats in their city.

Why are our troops trying to fight with undependable weapons? When I was in basic training in 1974 my M-16 would jam if you looked at it wrong. You add a little sand to the mix and it could substitute as a walking stick or a bludgeon if someone got close enough. One day it jammed three times in a little over ten minutes. Thank goodness it was just an exercise for me, I would hate to have to depend on it in a firefight. I'll bet the Blackwater guys aren't using M-16s.

Someone from the crew without a clue interfered with the Blackwater investigation? Gee, no one could have anticipated that.

Too Sweet

Jeepers! The Dark Wraith was on a roll when he wrote this one. I loved the whole thing, but one paragraph in particular describes how He feels (actually the whole article does that) and it definitely reflects my thoughts on the matter. I wish I could be so eloquent.

want government off my back, and I want it off yours, too, if you're an average person. I don't want creeps listening to my phone calls like I'm some kind of terrorist; I don't want airport security perverts using their high-tech machines to look under women's and girls' panties; I don't want the government's massive law-enforcement screw-ups being used as an excuse to make my life less free; I don't want wars that don't kill the people who need to die (while killing lots of people—including American soldiers—who don't deserve it); I want law enforcement to be a hammer on bad people, while knowing the difference between bad people and the vast majority of us who aren't bad people; and I want the government to tax adequately without going mad, while spending carefully without hurting good programs and needy people, especially kids.

I've known for years that exercise doesn't make you skinny,but it certainly helps from getting fatter. I used to do the elliptical machine for 45 minutes and lift weights for 45. Then I would reward myself with a good sweat in the sauna and go on about my day. I didn't lose an ounce but I was healthier. The only time exercise has ever worked for me is if it is done before 10 in the morning. That seems to reset my metabolism to a more efficient model. And unlike what he finally says in this article, intimating that exercise might make us fatter, I don't eat directly after exercise. I prefer to wait a few hours and that works best in the morning, which might be why I lose weight that way. I don't seem to have as much willpower as the day wears on.

All About the Benjamins

Maybe the DEA should be in charge of the war on terror. Operation Raw Deal has been successful in arresting 120 people and closing 56 labs worldwide for illegal steroid production. Isn't that interesting? The world can't get together with a comprehensive plan to capture or prevent terrorists, but they can get together to stop steroid drug use. Priorities, priorities. Guess we know which is more important, stopping violence doesn't rank nearly as high as stopping personal crimes. No wonder we've made so little progress in the war on terror. Once it starts affecting the money trail, concrete action will ensue.

Jeff Dunham new special on Comedy Central was very funny. Especially Achmed, his suicide bomber puppet. I hope to be able to catch the last half hour this week, mom watched the premiere of Cold Case and the DiSH DVR doesn't allow you to watch one show while taping another. That would require the two tuner model ($129) plus a five dollar per month surcharge for not having a land based phone line.

Duh! Traumatic brain injuries are worse than previously thought. By who? Any brain injury is serious, but to the military if you aren't bleeding, then nothing is wrong with you. Another generation turned to toast by war. Ten years from now is going to be a pretty sad place for some families. Some of these kids are going to exhibit the same symptoms as Alzheimer's patients, but many years too early.

Violent crime is on the rise. Another sad indicator that the economy sucks.

Second in command of Homeland Security, Director Michael Jackson resigned today. For personal financial reasons. Since when are you supposed to make money working in government? All of these guys crack me up. They went from saying that government workers are lazy and overpaid to complaining that they don't make enough money for what they said they would do. It seems that service to the country isn't as important as being rich. Too bad the troops don't have the same option.

The Truth Hurts

It doesn't matter where, what, whom, or how illegal, we traipse through other countries leaving a trail of death and destruction without having to suffer consequences. So far. Iraq isn't going to expel Blackwater. Heck, they can't even get the US to admit that there is a problem. With over a 130,000 American troops in the country, the loss of a mercenary army might leave a "vacuum". Color me not surprised. It isn't like they are a sovereign country, they're more like a Middle Eastern Puerto Rico. Except with a lot more bombs. Just like Germany being unable to extradite the 13 CIA agents suspected of kidnapping one of their citizens, Blackwater will never be prosecuted for all of the incidents that caused the deaths of innocent Iraqi civilians. Babies included. No wonder the world has such a low opinion of us.

Marcel Marceau has passed away. I couldn't find a video of him with Red Skelton (it was really good), but I did find this. Mime always fascinated me and he did it very well. Rest in peace Marcel, you will be missed.

Alice Ghostley also passed on. She could steal a scene from anyone, sometimes she was the best part of Bewitched. Rest in peace, I enjoyed watching you.

Isn't it nice how we run around the world telling other countries how to behave and treat their citizens with respect and then we can't seem to be able to do it at home? The FBI is investigating. Ha, ha. If it was a black group that had left those threats, most of us would be in prison camps by now. For our "protection".

Free speech is free as long as you don't publish it. Heaven forbid that people would get riled up over something substantive, like the war. Use a little profanity in an editorial, and away goes $30K in advertising money. The sad part is, most people refer to Bush and his policies the same way. I know I do.

Move the f**k on yourself. It would be really nice if the world would let us, but it is too busy trying to make sure that we always stay at the bottom of the barrel. She's probably trying to stir up some publicity because her career doesn't seem to be all that great.

Why is Ahmadinejad considered to be crazy but Bush isn't? I don't believe that the Holocaust is a myth, I do have reservations about the way Israel swings its weight around and I certainly believe that Bush lied to the American people so he could go to war. Every time Bush makes a speech, our country suffer another credibility gap. He either doesn't know what he's talking about, which is most of the time, he doesn't know where he is or he can't figure out how to leave a stage. The longer he's in office, the more it looks like he eats from lead lined tableware.

Cascading Failures

Of nuclear proportions. Ah yes, the crew without a clue strikes again. Why worry about the Russians and their missing nuclear weapons when we can't keep track of our own? Oh well, not all that important, no reason for bunched underwear, it was just a 36 hour screw up. With the potential of ten Hiroshima equivalent bombs. Times six. And supposedly it would never happen here. Uh-huh.

A simple error in a missile storage room led to missteps at every turn, as ground crews failed to notice the warheads, and as security teams and flight crew members failed to provide adequate oversight and check the cargo thoroughly. An elaborate nuclear safeguard system, nurtured during the Cold War and infused with rigorous accounting and command procedures, was utterly debased, the investigation's early results show.

Well, that makes me feel better. Not. And they call it a "breakdown".

What occurred on Aug. 29-30, the former official said, was "a breakdown at a number of levels involving flight crew, munitions, storage and tracking procedures -- faults that never were to line up on a single day."

So much for that ridiculous theory. We're in so much trouble that we don't even know the ship is sinking and we keep on believing that we can breathe underwater.

If the terrorists wait long enough (that would be after we sent every able troop to be sacrificed on the altar that is known as Iraq), we'll trip over our own dicks and blow ourselves up. Thereby saving the rest of the world from our incompetence. And hubris.

Isn't it nice how that works out? Sort of like designing a lack of bathrooms at the Getty museum.

Racism In The News

First, a smiley. WaterTiger strikes again. I laughed. I also watched it for a minute or two. It may have been repetitive, but in extremely satisfying and entertaining way. If only it could really happen.

Dipshit O'Reilly was surprised to find that black people have manners and know how to behave in public. Now that is true racism. What a stupid git. As has been noted by many people before me, Falafel boy needs a strong dose of STFU. I can't even try to be nice on this one. FOAD.

It's so sad that outright racism is becoming more prevalent, we should have moved past that by now. A suspected neo-Nazi site has published the names and addresses of the Jena 6 and warned them to expect "justice". It's amazing to me that some people still have these strange beliefs. I may be black, but the only way I can carry a tune is if I'm holding my iPod. I can't dance and I don't have the vaguest idea of what f'shizzle means, nor do I want to.

The puppet masquerading as president keeps trying to blame Democrats for the children's health care fiasco when he is the one who's at fault. He seems to think that threatening a veto and inflammatory declarations of partisan politics will help him get his way in screwing over the children of the United States. Again. Right now some of the Republicans are openly disagreeing with Bush and threatening to override his promised veto. Or as Senator Hatch put it so eloquently, "you bet your sweet bippy". Because this is about children they might actually stick to it, but the last few years of standing up and then capitulating at the last moment have left me a little hesitant to believe the hype. Am I being too cynical? Or just realistic?

Well of course the Bush administration is going to deny chemotherapy treatment to illegal immigrants. What else can you expect from a man who believes in the death penalty? You have to follow his reasoning. They've done all the work they can, now that they're sick they are just a drain on the system and the sooner they die, the sooner they can be replaced by another healthy slave immigrant.

Makes you proud to be an American, doesn't it?

They Represent Who?

Why is Congress deliberately out of touch with what the American people want? My so called representative, Dianne Feinstein needs to go. Unfortunately, she just got reelected but eventually justice has to win. Doesn't it? Avedon is spitting nails over the Democrats who voted to censure the MoveOn.org ad. She wants to know if the Dems have been bought off. Um, more than likely and I've been saying so since the lovely Bankruptcy bill. Besides being in the pockets of corporations, they are also stooges for the administration. The pattern is pretty obvious. These people are more worried about their jobs than they are the people they represent. They have consistently voted against their constituents wishes and then give some stupid reason for their behavior. What I don't understand is how they think they are going to be reelected, unless we aren't going to have any more elections or is some member of their family being held hostage? Because if they were being blackmailed, one of them should have broken ranks before now. Whatever the reason, they are spineless and should be recalled by the citizens of their states.

I love Skippy. Not the peanut butter, the blogger. This is his comment that he left on the petition to let our so called representatives know we don't approve of limiting our right to free speech.

find it reprehensible that congress would seriously debate and pass a resolution about an advertisement purchased by u.s. citizens and which reflected an honest and popular point of view, rather than vote in favor of letting the troops have between deployments; or to restore habeas corpus, a cornerstone of western jurisprudence for over 500 years; or to stop the funding of the iraq war, which over 70% of americans oppose. talk about misplaced priorities!

we citizens will not be quiet, we will not sit down in a corner out of sight, we will not allow a few over-paid millionaires dictate policy without input from us. that's called democracy in case you missed that class in school.

in fact we will actively work to get such spineless enablers that allowed this waste of time vote out of office.

I agree. Putzes. The Demowienies who are Republicans in Democrat clothing need to be unemployed. ASAP.

I've been playing with the template. Again. The newest widget is called Snap Shots and what it does is give you a preview of some of the links. Ran into it at Mercury Rising and liked it so much that I added it to the page. Adblock Plus sometimes needs to be adjusted in order to view the cute little snapshots.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

No. Sixteen years later and the only thing that has changed, is that the attitudes are worse. Nothing like a charge of racism to bring out the wingnuts. This all started with blacks not keeping to their place and sitting under a tree that only white students had sat under previously. Next day, three nooses appeared. That is when the school and town made their biggest mistake. They didn't handle the incident then, they waited until tensions had swelled out of control. A white kid getting knocked unconscious during a brawl is nothing new, teenagers have been doing that for many years and attempted murder charges have not been filed against the perpetrators and charging them as adults. Until now.

Some of the comments are more revealing than the incident.

why was it so important for the black students to sit under the same tree as the white students? why couldn't they just sit under another tree? maybe because it wouldn't of made of scene. maybe all of the white people should just move out of Jena, but then the town would lose it's tax base.
Posted by:
dontcare007 12:49 PM

Ah yes, to the back of the bus we go. Another commenter wanted to know why Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton can't teach black men to get an education and for black women to stop having three babies before they turn 18. Umm, maybe because the schools suck, birth control and sex education aren't taught, no science labs and they can see that there are no opportunities after they graduate? Some people have their head so far up their asses that the only light they are ever going to see is the one you see just before the end. Nobody seems to be in the least concerned that the first instance of obvious racism were the nooses. I may not have grown up in the south (thank you God) but if I stepped outside and found a noose or a burning cross, I would report it as the hate crime that it is.

Everything escalated from the inaction of the school and the authorities until it culminated in an incident where they could arrest black students and show them who's in charge. It was also done as a warning to prevent any other blacks in town from stepping out of their place. The one at the bottom of the barrel, the back of the bus, the segregated lunch areas.

Some people persist in believing that blacks have created and enjoy being victims without ever really trying to understand how difficult it is to make your way in a country that despises you and isn't afraid to show it. Being followed around a store, people refusing to serve you or give you the bum's rush out of an establishment and then everything you see on television is about how bad blacks are. Black History Month is the biggest farce, nobody cares that black people have contributed, all they care about is that they look different so they must be bad.

I grew up outside the United States for most of my formative years, so I had the same education as all the other children in the area. It wasn't until seventh grade in the late sixties that I was not the only black person in school and it was very strange for me. My friends consisted of Sabrina, a beautiful black girl and Laura a rather overweight white girl. We were inseparable due to our love of Star Trek. One day I was beaten up and had my glasses stolen on the school bus by a group of black girls because they said I was acting white. The bus driver stepped off the bus and let them do what they wanted, which was pulling most of the hair from my scalp. The principal wouldn't do anything because he said it was up to the bus driver. There was no punishment and I was told that maybe I should hang around with my own kind. I got my glasses back three days later and I continued to hang out with Laura and Sabrina. Obviously I've never forgotten the incident.

When we got to high school the first thing I noticed was that all of the cheerleaders were white and the drill team was almost all black and didn't get to participate in a lot of the sporting activities. It was like a token position. They had a few Hispanic girls for "color". Once again, I refused to participate. I wanted to be a cheerleader (thank goodness that never happened) and since that wasn't open to me, I retreated back into the world of books. For most of my life, I avoided crowds of black people and I was proud of myself that unless you meet me in person, you can't tell that I'm black. I'm really biracial but the world persists in seeing me as black.

Racism didn't really bother me because I was more concerned about the fact that my options were more limited because I was a woman. Now that I'm in my early fifties, racism bothers me. A lot. I had the educational opportunities of an advantaged white person and I tried to make the most of them. Society hasn't been very helpful in this matter, but I keep trying. There is a problem in this country and it has gotten worse over the last twenty seven years. Jimmy Carter was absolutely correct when he said that if Reagan was elected that the country would fracture. Just look at us. North against South, men against women, blacks against whites, whites against anybody different, rich against poor, old against young, etc.

Over the last seven years, the racial situation has deteriorated even more. No child left behind, has left enough children behind that they could start a new country. The dumbing down of America is having serious consequences, not the least of which is an increase in racism. The elephant in the room is now breaking things in an effort to make itself known.

Fire, Meet Gasoline

Just when you think they couldn't make a bad situation worse, they did. How many atrocities have been committed in Iraq and nobody has been held accountable? Unless they were E-5s and below. With torture, rape, and murder committed by some of the troops, what's a little indiscriminate killing of Iraqi citizens by, let's call them by their real name, mercenaries? Because they certainly aren't the Foreign Legion.

"It is possible that some contractors may remain outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, civil or military, for improper conduct in Iraq," the report said.

Why is it that the crew without a clue like to babble incessantly about personal responsibility but nobody ever seems to take it? It's never their fault. There are always extenuating circumstances or nobody could havn anticipated. Anything except somebody standing up and saying they made a mistake. They're like babies playing their first game of hide and seek. They hide behind their fingers thinking that since they can't see you, you can't see them.

Meanwhile back in the real world, all travel has been restricted for those not wearing a military uniform outside of the Green Zone for fear of reprisals. So much for the everything is going well over there story the administration has been trying to stuff down our throats.

Not that it means anything, but the temperature is currently 51 degrees at 5:30 am in San Jose. This year we only had about four weeks where the nighttime temperature was above 60 and it never went above 65. We didn't have any really unbearable heat for any extended length of time. A few weeks just doesn't count. The weather patterns are definitely changing.

Last year, special detection teams required 40,000 people to undergo extra screening for one reason or another. Almost 300 people were found to have done something wrong. That is less than one percent. People with four days of classroom training and three days of on the job training, are going to have another class. This one will enable them to detect "micro-facial expressions". They last approximately 1/15th of a second and are supposed to reveal if someone is lying or hiding something, but it is still going to be subject to individual preferences. Football has instant replay for a reason.

A meteorite slams into the earth and 600 people from the surrounding area are sick from noxious fumes. From all the sci-fi horror stories you would think that this would be a big story, but it happened in the Peruvian Andes. If it had been the Ozarks or the Appalachians, we would be hearing about it 24/7.

First you call them names, then you blockade, invade, and bomb. From "axis of evil" to "enemy entity" it's all about demonization and dehumanification. Word games played at the expense of people's lives.

Aargh! Happy talk like a pirate day!

Tuesday's Oddities

In the "umm, duh" category, this has got to be one of the more obvious headlines for quite a while and from a place I didn't expect. People pay more attention to good looking people. You could have knocked me over with a feather, I had never noticed. It isn't like almost all the newscasters are good looking. The younger ones especially, a journalism background doesn't seem to be as necessary as looking good on camera. Unless something goes wrong, then we're supposed to want our daddy's.

Have you done your Visual DNA? It's a flash based personality profile based on your preferences in photos. It nailed me pretty well.

Have you ever Thoofed?

I know I've asked this before, but can printing more money be far behind? Banks and some creditors will be happy, but it isn't going to help Jack and Jill Renter or most of those with the sub-prime loans. Makes a good news story though.

Sometimes the old becomes new, again. Moving closer to personalized medicine. Well you can look at it that way, but Chinese Medicine was always personalized. Which is why an intake takes more than five minutes, it's called getting to know your patient. Wait until they start factoring in environment at the same time, but they will still try the one pill fits all approach.

Random Flickr Blogging 1237

IMG_1237, originally uploaded by tony swales.

After the decline of the railway industry, the little engine that could moved to Germany to live out its life making little children happy. Unfortunately, the new paint job and face lift made it look stunned rather than happy.

Random Flickr Blogging explained here.

Putting On The Tinfoil

Strange coincidence or a pattern? Jim Gray disappeared without a trace in January and Steve Fossett this past month. Science and technology have been of no help since both of them seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

If only this was true, we can use all the help in conserving, or generating in this case, energy. Somehow, I just don't see the energy companies welcoming this idea with open arms. Something about profits and how they won't be making as much. Meanwhile, the poor and elderly will continue freezing to death.

It isn't a movie with cute animals migrating en masse to avoid extinction, it is happening in real time and more importantly, during our lifetimes. Global warming can be seen almost everywhere but changes on the Chesapeake Bay show it quite clearly. Unfortunately, the animals at the poles are suffering as well. No happy feet there, nothing to tap on.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. How stupid can one person be? He didn't have the grace or dignity to slide off into oblivion, he had to do something so stupid that comedians will have jokes for years. He's so stupid that it's a good thing breathing is an automatic process. Absolutely the stupidest thing that's happened all year and there have been some pretty stupid things. At least he didn't drive around in a Bronco this time.

Robert Jordan passed away. I knew he was sick but I was hoping that it wouldn't end so soon. And just as I feared, he didn't finish the Wheel of Time series. You will be missed. It's been a sad week for my favorite authors. I hope Anne McCaffrey is doing well.

Return Of Normal

The annual Summer lull seems to be over and violence is returning to Iraq. Not that it really ever left. Coordinated attacks on Shiite villages by groups of Sunni backed al-Qaeda outside Baghdad and a booby trapped bicycle inside. I thought it was Afghanistan that was going to be bombed back to the Stone Age.

A different version of the same story shows up in the Washington Post but the slant is little differently focused. Security contractors are involved in another incident involving the deaths of civilians, but since they haven't had to face charges or investigations before, it will probably be replaced by bad news from somewhere else. Like the deepening political crisis and the inability to maintain a majority. The Return on Success. How can you get a return on something you never had? That's like fraud, isn't it?

Blogger Play is addicting and much more interesting than Flickr. You can sit and watch the images that people are posting to their blogs in what seems to be pretty close to real time. Utterly fascinating. Cats, kids, food, people protesting Bush, more cats and kids, anime, art, nature, kids, and world events. When you first visit the site, there is a disclaimer about how they've done their best to keep it rated PG. So one of the first images was a beautifully done charcoal drawing of a mature nude, sure to set someone off if they were watching and had that type of mindset. The ability to find more detail about the image is available by clicking on it and visiting the home blog. Best viewed in Firefox or Safari. There are some interesting blogs out there.

What do a particle physics, a mini-biography of James Cook, searching for wimps, mining tunnels beneath the sea, childhood memories, and the tallest cliff in England have in common? This wandering article from Peter Hinchey at OhMYNews.

Major flashback. Marching in the streets, protesting the war, war supporters accusing demonstrators of being Commies and defending their belief that American soldiers deserve to die a long way from home and fighting an enemy that hasn't attacked us. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Now, if only the music would get better.

I touched it and it was pretty cool. Fortunately they were out of stock or I would have spent money that could be put to good use. Like paying my bills or preventive maintenance on my car.

Stupidity Abounds

Rape an unconscious woman, apologize twenty years later, serve less than six months, go home. Have your female lawyer state that you have paid for your misjudgment, shameful.

"This matter came to light because he tried to right a wrong," said his attorney, Rhonda Quagliana. "Mr. Beebe has been sufficiently punished for his misjudgment."

Something tells me that she wasn't talking about his committing a crime, but that he confessed to it. No wonder lawyers are disliked. Maybe she could defend this guy next time. He's definitely a candidate for a future Darwin award, unfortunately he reproduced. Which is what got him into trouble in the first place.

Revenge. Just what Iraq needs. Not. It's amazing how many wrongs will never make it right.

Help the lender, forget the people who were bamboozled into believing that they could own a home. Why is it that if you or I run short of funds, sometimes through no fault of our own, the bank won't help us, but when they run short of funds help is on the way? They made bad investments and tried to capitalize on the housing boom, but now it's backfiring and they don't have enough money to cover their bills. Good luck trying to get your bank to lend you money when you screw up.

The surge, according to Bush, is working so well that the troops have to stay. Meanwhile, Tony (not gone yet) Snow says that the Iraqis are lagging on the benchmarks but other important things have been accomplished. If they weren't important enough to be benchmarks in the first place, why do they count now? Whatever.

Cautious. Anther way of saying that consumers don't have money. They haven't had any for a long time, but credit card usage disguised it. Not any more. Whee! The snowball is getting bigger and starting to pick up speed.

Just installed the Foxy Tunes extension because they added Blogger support and the ability to sign off with the song that is currently playing. Love iTunes, nobody can convince me that it isn't some type of AI, or maybe my music is just that sarcastic.


----------------
Listening to: Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle with You
via FoxyTunes

Bringing Home The Troops

Mr. Boehner. If over a trillion dollars and almost 3800 American troops dying (don't worry about the civilians or coalition troops, they're not American, so they don't count) in Iraq is a "small price to pay", why don't you pay it and let the troops come home AND the American taxpayers off the hook? Maybe you could meet with Sheik Risha who's been trying to help us retake control of Anbar province. Oops, no can do. Roadside bomb got to him first. Maybe your plane can do those exciting evasive maneuvers when you leave Iraq. The last representatives thought it was kind of fun.

Proving that once again you can do anything with statistics, a CNN poll is touted as Bush approval. At 36 percent, it sounds more like disapproval. In other words, almost two thirds of the people responding can't stand him and think he's a "bad man". They definitely think he's taking the country in the wrong direction. It seems that majority opinion only counts when it's the Supreme Court or American Idol. The Wall Street Journal says that Bush's numbers are improving and that this will give him wiggle room on Iraq. Okey dokey, someone is using too much smoky. Their cute little chart shows the same 37 percent are still willing to sacrifice American lives for something they aren't sure about. Makes me wonder if this was a poll done from Republican donors.

Ah yes, the Demowienies are at it again. Trying to find the center instead of doing what their constituents want them to do. They should call themselves the Centrist party and quit pretending to represent the people. The only difference between them and the Republicans is their fear factor. Fear of what is the million dollar question.

The former hot pants airline strikes again. She should have been wearing a burqa, then they could have asked her to leave the plane because the passengers were uncomfortable and thought she might be a terrorist. I have to admit that when I fly, I wear warm clothing. But that's because I think the plane might crash and if I survive I wouldn't want to freeze to death in the mountains while I wait for help. Fighting the need to wear the veil over there so they can make women wear it over here. Next thing you know, gray will be our only clothing color choice. Puritans or Taliban, what's the difference?

When the troops finally come home, will America still be here?

Freaking Unbelievable!

What an effing dildo. As mentioned in a previous post, two of the soldiers who contributed to the op-ed in the NY Times were killed in Iraq on Monday. This mental midget linked to me as one of the lefties who had posted on the irony. Wisdom, justice and love. My ass. F**k you and the horse you rode in on! I'll bet comments are closed. Just like his tiny, vicious and vengeful excuse for a mind. Our troops are not mindless robots who are supposed to follow every order without question and speaking out about injustice or wrong behavior is NOT treason. And they most certainly weren't gutless. Or traitors. Another one of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders shows his ignorance along with his cowardice.

I'd like to kick his ass, but his head is in the way.

Lying And Dying

Whoop-de-doo. Bush is going let 30,000 troops come home by next July. Those are the same ones that were sent under cover of the surge, which would mean that they would have been there around 15 months. Isn't that the same as a regular tour nowadays? And who cares what Reid and Pelosi have to say? They are the two biggest wusses in Congress. All talk, no action. No surprise there, they are politicians after all.

With three out of seven soldiers who wrote the op-ed article in the NY Times either dead or injured in one month, how can anyone believe that we are "kicking ass" in Iraq? Ass is getting kicked, but it isn't the right one.

I took the Fountain of Youth quiz. Turns out I'm a skeptic. Umm, surprisingly enough, they're right. I don't drink kool-aid, which is probably why I don't believe anything that this administration says.

Great, as if Bush needed any more ideas on the expansion of presidential power. He's already tried to make Congress irrelevant, he might consider it a natural step to try and dissolve the government just like Putin and remake it into one that gives him everything he wants. Of course he already has that but they are beginning to ask too many questions.

Led Zeppelin is going to reform but there is no mention of a tour. Plus, a new album in time for Christmas. Too cool.

Six Years On

It's that day again. The one where people gnash their teeth, rend their clothes and cry over people they never knew while mewling about how terrible the world is and how we should be monitored from birth to death to make sure it never happens again. For the families and friends of the victims, my heart goes out to you. The rest of you need to get a life and quit using a tragedy to prevent you from enjoying what is here. Too much television has pickled the national brain into believing that this was the defining moment of our nation's history. It wasn't.

Our defining moment happened hundreds of years ago and it wasn't televised. When the signers of the Declaration of Independence gathered, they knew what they were doing and what the eventual cost could be. Many of the believers paid with their lives in order to give future generations freedom from the tyranny of an out of touch leader who felt that the colonies were his personal line of credit. Nathan Hale, John Paul Jones and Patrick Henry fascinated me as a fifth-grader. Their reported sayings energized my interpretation of history, inspiring me to believe in the freedoms that were later written down as our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The current generation is willing to give up everything that these people fought and died for, because they are scared that something bad might happen to them. Some people need to get a grip on reality. Do people honestly believe that there that many terrorists who could destroy us? Do people honestly believe that there that many terrorists who could destroy us? There are more than 300 million of us spread out over 3.7 million square miles. If you live in Ottumwa, IA, the only people coming to get you are people who didn't like Radar. Why are we running around scared of every little shadow and any dissent from the official line is called treason? Americans are supposed to be braver than that. And smarter.

What the heck happened to my country?

Crossposted at Big Brass Blog.

Sex, Clothing And Too Much Money

Wow! Burqas for everyone. Female, that is. Two articles got me going this morning. The first was about the girl who was asked to leave the Southwest flight to Tucson because some male flight attendant didn't like the way she was dressed. He felt it was too revealing and did everything in his power (falling into the give a man a uniform and he lets it go to his head category, thank goodness he doesn't have a gun to go with it) to embarrass and humiliate the girl. The people that read ABC online are puritanical to the extreme. I used to wear hot pants when I was younger and they were pretty short, nobody complained because we were all doing it. Nowadays I personally find the midriff baring outfits to be a little more than I like, but it isn't up to me.

Mom and I were walking in downtown San Jose the other night and this girl and her parents came walking by. Her skirt was so low on her hips that it was obvious she had trimmed the upper pubes so they wouldn't show. Her dad looked mortified and mom made a comment after we went past. She thought it was a little too revealing, as did I. But it isn't my place to tell people how to dress, I can always avert my eyes. Not so the commenters at ABC. 929 comments, all of them judgmental.

The second article brought out even more rigid opinions. If you don't like what's on television, don't watch it. But whatever you do, stop trying to regulate other peoples behaviors, likes and dislikes. According to one commenter, 150 million people in America go to church on Sunday. Really? They don't act like it, no turning the other cheek here.

Glamping. Another way of saying that people have too much money. Way too much money.

Playing in the background while reading the articles. I do believe the old iPod has a sense of humor.

You Don't Have To Say You Love Me by Dusty Springfield
We Used To Be Friends by the Dandy Warhols
Go All The Way by The Raspberries
Love Is Like Oxygen by Sweet
Lunatic Fringe by Red Rider
Cuts Like A Knife by Bryan Adams
Psychobabble by The Alan Parsons Project
One Night In Bangkok by Murray Head
SuperFreak by Rick James
Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

As I was adding the labels, one last jab from the iPod and it definitely made me laugh. Honestly, the thing is on shuffle. It really is.

Putting On The Ritz by Taco.

Stuck On Stupid

Robert Baer of Time leaps headfirst into the gaping maw of stupidity this morning with his article entitled "Bin Laden Fights to Stay Relevant", proving that some people are still determined to drink the kool-aid. Even after it's been proved to be tainted with Caliciviridae. He thinks Bin Laden was "maundering" when he brought up corporations, global warming, and the inability of the Democrats to do what the American people want, which is to end the war. Bin Laden sounded like he was more on top of things than the crew without a clue and their pathetically clueless enablers.

Not content to leave stupid alone, Baer then proceeds to blame Bin Laden for the destruction of Iraq and the displacement of Muslims. Que? Now that's the equivalent of a drunk's best roundabout reasoning. One should never argue with a drunk or a fool, but sometimes I just can't help myself.

So, let me get this straight. Bin Laden inspired terrorists to pull off a successful attack on American soil, the US attacks Afghanistan in retaliation in what was presented as bringing Bin Laden to justice, supposedly "dead or alive", but then gets distracted from this goal by invading a country that had nothing to do with September 11, deposing its ruler because he was a "bad man" and had something called weapons of mass destruction which turned out not to exist, destroying everything in the country up to and including its quality of life by wrecking the fragile stability that had been maintained for years and having nothing to put in its place but continued violence, and now it's Bin Laden's fault that the country is in explosive ruins. And that's only paragraph three of the propaganda article.

According to Baer, Bin Laden has failed to change anything in the Middle East, because Saudi Arabia isn't a caliphate and Iraq isn't a supranational Islamist state. That's okay, they aren't democracies either and that was supposed to happen when we liberated a sovereign country of its rightful ruler. Democracy was going to spread through the region like a popular YouTube video. Instead it turned into a fatal form of the norovirus.

Baer goes on to blame the internet for the availability of bomb making materials and the ability to find religious guidance, no matter how suspect. I wonder if he's been to Fred Phelps (no link, those people are certifiable) page lately? Europeans are not going to blithely sweep away their objections to secret prisons, no matter what happens. They aren't as easily terrified by the boogeyman as Americans are, England and Spain have both shown us that. Germany just proved that police work is an extremely valuable tool against terrorism and you can forget the Swedes, Norwegians or the Finns suddenly giving up freedoms that they treasure.

Yeah, Bin Laden is a bad Muslim. He practices a fringe branch of the religion, somewhat along the lines of what Jim Jones or David Koresh (batshit crazy) did for Christianity, but I wouldn't be so quick to describe him as irrelevant. It's interesting how he is able to wave hello at all, but then he doesn't look like he's been missing as many meals lately. Or showers. He just sent us his three finger anniversary wave and he's wondering if we can read between the lines. Baer needs to go back to huffing and puffing in a retirement home.

3Bs

Goodbye Madeleine

Madeleine L'Engle, the woman responsible for me reading almost every book in the junior adult section of the Vandenberg Library when I was twelve, has died at the age of 88. When we moved from Ramey AFB in Puerto Rico to Vandenberg AFB in California, my teacher was halfway through reading this great book. Unfortunately I didn't know the name of either the book or the author but I remembered the characters. So I read every book until I found them again. A Wrinkle In Time will always be a favorite of mine, Meg and Charles Wallace will always be my heroes and Mrs. Who, Mrs. What and Mrs. Which will remain in my memories fondly.

Rest in peace Madeleine, thank you for the wonderful journeys that you introduced me to and for focusing my youth on science fiction. I will always be grateful. You will definitely be missed.

Punish The Monkey

After all the hype about how many jobs have been created in the last few months, the numbers have been revised downward. How can anyone be surprised that employers eliminated jobs? As opposed to laying them off or whatever euphemism they are using to avoid saying that formerly credit worthy people can no longer afford to pay their bills. And that the odds of them finding any other employment that will cover their living expenses are rapidly becoming slim to none.

I'm failing to see the difference between Democrats who support the President even though their constituents want otherwise and having a Republican win in 2008. In all seriousness, how will we know the difference? If only the Democrats were capable of doing the job they were elected to do. It isn't as if one of the least liked presidents has had any difficulty getting everything he wants out of Congress. And then some. Or have people forgotten the expanded powers Congress gave him that he didn't ask for? Someone needs to remind these people that they don't hold lifetime jobs and that representing the people means just that, not worrying about someone else's job more than a year in the future. No timetable, no funding, no excuses. What a concept.

One of two things is going to happen. Either the populace will care mightily and voice their opinion more vociferously or they are going to watch more television and tune out the bullshit. Given the last few years of apathy, we are likely to see a Bionic Lost Survivor Hero Pushing Daisies.

Mark Knopfler rocks.

Nakedness, Terrorism And Obfuscation

Sometimes you just have to know when you're off duty. There are some jobs where after training, your mind is always assessing situations. Not that this is necessarily a good thing because it means that some people never relax. Somewhere along the line, I learned to medically assess people in my mind and move on. They don't care what I think, nor are most of them going to follow any advice, so I rarely get invested in what I see. Unfortunately, those of the police persuasion prefer to view all behaviors as criminal, especially those of the naked kind. Even when done in relative privacy. Bin Laden should be scrutinized so intimately.

Speaking of the forgotten one, rumor is that he's going to release a new video making fun of us on September 11. There's also something about a "gift". Sounds ominous to me but the "intelligence" sources dont seem to be to worried. Wonder where this ranks on the Choernoff gut meter. Hopefully, no more than the mildly uncomfortable.

There's a pony in there somewhere. Yes, it seems that according to the state mouthpiece, our Esteemed Leader and his crew without a clue can travel safely to an out of the way airport in a war torn country. In their rush to use it as evidence that the "surge" is working and we shouldn't give up because a few lives are worth it (as long as it's nobody related to them), they neglect to mention that Bush could only visit by sneaking out the side door and not letting anyone know he was coming, that he didn't mingle with the natives and he didn't stay too long. Sort of like New Orleans, but without the reconstruction money.

The New iPods Are Here

Gizmodo rocks!

What in the heck will I do with 160GB of memory on an iPod Classic? My first computer (IBM Aptiva 75) was only 5 GB for the whole system and most of that was occupied with Windows 95. I can't even fill up an 8GB Nano yet. Unless I download videos.

Now the iPod Touch is what I want. The same screen as the iPhone but not enough memory to make me feel that I should put just anything on it. Plus it's WiFi enabled and can access the Music Store. Web surfing with Safari. Gotta have it.


All photos are from Gizomodo.

So much for the iPod killers. NBC must be feeling pretty dumb right about now. I never buy anything from Amazon but I do from iTunes. iTunes was there for me when Comcast was trying to blackmail me into paying more for the SciFi channel. Now I have DiSH, but if there are any scheduling conflicts, I'll just find another option. There are always options and NBC tends to forget that.

The Starbucks integration doesn't do much for me since I don't drink coffee, or anything else, from Fourbucks. I wonder how close you have to be for it to work. Oh well, I'll survive.

Yippee! Now all I have to do is save up all my pennies.

Wondering About Things

Unbelievable. Fifty two thousand dollars for a purse. Is it magic? For that price, one would hope that it would do something besides hold stuff. It should create jobs or have a built in flat screen television. And it certainly shouldn't be ugly.

People wonder why we have no confidence in how Iraq is being handled and then a story like this pops up. The only good thing to be said is that at least they didn't lose the nuclear weapons. They just flew them over populated areas of the United States. Bad orders given and followed. Again. It makes me wonder if they would have dropped them on one of our cities if someone gave the order.

Why would anyone eat microwave buttered popcorn anyway? It doesn't have the right consistency, but for those who think time is more important than flavor, now there's a new worry, especially if you like to sniff the bag when first opened. Bronchiolitis obliterans, otherwise known as popcorn lung. The small pathways of the lungs become swollen and scarred. Breathing in is easy. Breathing out, not so good. It's caused by the chemical diacetyl which is used to add the flavor of butter but when heated becomes a gas that affects the lungs. Until recently the officials believed that it only affected workers at the popcorn plant but has now been shown to affect people who eat microwave popcorn frequently. I prefer pickled jalapeños on my popcorn when I bother to eat it. Less calories, more flavor.

Whatever Apple is going to release, it should happen in the next hour. I an hardly wait.

Vengeance, Drugs and More Drugs

Are they going to ask for the death penalty too? The need for revenge is absolutely ridiculous and for the coroner to determine that a man's death from infection is due to his being shot over forty years ago is absolute bunk and was rendered out of spite. In the ensuing forty years, Walter Barclay could have died from a myriad of causes, most of which could probably have occurred on the job that he no longer had and others from participating in normal life activities. William Barnes has served his time for shooting the officer and should not be charged with murder on top of it. We are an extremely vengeful and venal nation to want to extract more punishment from someone who has already served his time. We have no shame.

So, rockers have a shortened life expectancy, especially if they are American. Sex, drugs and rock and roll. Plus loads of hangers on willing to party at their expense. Little Amy Winehouse is following a long and tragic tradition. Such a shame. And a waste. John Bonham drowned in his own vomit, not the way I want to go out. That would be old age. In my sleep.

Why don't they just start every child on psychiatric drugs as soon as the pop out of the womb? According to recent studies, children with ADHD and bipolar disorder are under diagnosed and under treated. Why is everyone so determined to classify childhood behaviors as a mental illness? They get no exercise, no fresh air, their food is high in sugar and salt, obesity is rampant, while television and video games have been their baby sitters for years. No wonder they have issues. Is childhood mental illness increasing in other countries? Do China, Norway or Japan have these problems? How about the kids in Iraq, Afghanistan and the West Bank? What is being done to address their more than likely post traumatic stress disorder? Oh wait, they don't have money and they can't afford the medications, therefore they don't have any problems.


Boohoo, try being black. Maybe, just maybe if they weren't so militant about their right to exist while ignoring the rights of others, people wouldn't be so willing to use them as a scapegoat. You'd think they would have learned to get along after the Holocaust, but they are too busy making others suffer. All in the name of Zionism. Whatever happened to two wrongs don't make a right?

How Roman Of Us

Last year PSoTD posed the question "what does Labor Day mean to you?' I missed that one and haven't a clue as to how to answer this year's, so I thought I'd combine Random Flickr Blogging with my feelings on the subject.

IMG_4159, originally uploaded by skiltondennis.

Labor Day has become one more of an endless and worse than that, meaningless, string of holidays trivialized to evoke artificial happiness but in reality designed to market wares that people can't afford and don't need, at a so-called discounted price.

When I was a little girl, the holidays had individual atmospheres, they all looked, felt and smelled different. The great part was you occasionally got a day off on odd days of the week, which was a big thing to a kid. It broke up the monotony of school, sort of like a snow day. Then they combined Lincoln's birthday with Washington's and it became President's Day, occurring only on Mondays, no matter what the real birthdays were. Now everyone that wasn't a boss could have an occasional three day weekend. Wasn't that thoughtful? It also meant that everyone was now competing for for the same vacation spaces at the same time. At that point all the holidays started to run together into one big yearlong shopping extravaganza.

We start with January, a month that was barren until it got its token holiday a few years ago. February has the delicious shopping whammy of Valentines Day ($ and guilt), closely followed by President's Day. They can hardly switch the ads fast enough, six o'clock on Valentines Day and now you're looking at the linens on sale instead of diamonds. March has St. Patrick's Day with Easter making an occasional appearance. April starts with Othe Fool's Day, which technically doesn't count. Yet. It's getting bigger every year.

Advertisers would prefer it if Easter showed up about the second week of April because depending on a holiday that is based on the first full moon after the vernal equinox, has a little too much variance and the distance to Mother's Day in May can be almost two months. That's a long time in the advertising world. Now, I'm rather fond of May since it contains my birthday, but that is the weekend that all the prices for everything from vacations to movies increases in price. No discounts for me.

Memorial Day kicks off the summer with the first big barbecue, not that anyone remembers why, but you can wear white shoes without Miss Manners getting upset. Flag Day used to be a big thing before it was discarded in favor of the shopping highest day for collect calls opportunity called Father's Day. But it's okay because they get to wave the flag a few weeks later on July 4. Independence Day is one of the big three, it gets celebrated on its day. Like it was Christmas or New Year's except there aren't as many parades and you get hot dogs.

August has no individual holidays, it's considered the vacation month, but that would have changed if it had been August 11 instead of September 11. A new national holiday would have been created because they had the space. Have no fear they are able to market the back-to-school sales without a disguise. It used to be just clothes and supplies but now it includes expensive electronics and new cars. Plus as a bonus, they start with the not so subtle pre-Christmas sales such as artificial white trees with orange and black decorations.

Oh my, it's Labor Day. The holiday that is supposed to celebrate the "common" workers and all they have done to make this country great. Well, since the majority of the people don't "labor" and even after watching the recent coal mine tragedies they still don't comprehend the work that goes into keeping this country on its feet. It has become the excuse for the end of the summer party and the last official day for those white shoes. And nothing else. Labor is for those who get dirt under their nails and if they know their place, they aren't seen in town.

It's a long time until the next holiday which isn't all that big, imagine what could happen if Ramadan and Rosh Hashana counted. Oh, the opportunities they are missing. Instead they have to wait for six weeks until the kids celebrate Columbus Day, a fake holiday if there ever was one. Meanwhile, the adults rev up for Halloween. It used to be a kid's holiday, but now it is more of an excuse for adults to run around in costumes all day long since it isn't safe for kids to go trick-or-treating and nobody gets home at five anyways.

On to the buffet, otherwise known as Thanksgiving. Yes, I know that Veteran's Day is in between, but it doesn't mean as much as it used to, it's just an excuse for banks and school kids to play hooky. Besides those veterans are dying off and since they don't have any money to spend it isn't really a holiday anymore. Support those troops. Back to Thanksgiving, where families get together and stuff themselves with rarely the slightest thought as to how precious that food would have been to the original settlers.

Finally! It's the last big push towards Christmas. Shop till you drop. Diamonds, toys and car commercials everywhere you turn. Everyone you know must receive a gift, Santa says so. Never mind that it used to be a religious/pagan holiday, now it's the holiday that determines the retailers whole year.

Only seven more days, which now include a new holiday called Kwanzaa, until the last/first holiday of the year. Guess what? There are still the end-of-the-year sales before you start drinking champagne. Everything that hasn't sold needs to go because they don't want to count it for tax purposes and they want to downsize all the extra help they brought in for the shopping season.

Just like the guy who used to operate the equipment above.

Random Flickr Blogging is a project of If I Ran The Zoo.

Crossposted at 3Bs.

How Does That Make You Feel?

Religion is faith-based and psychiatry is science-based? Science-based? Which of their own drugs are they taking? Most psychiatrists are more disturbed than their patients and aren't all that good at running their own lives. Just because one doesn't believe in God, doesn't make one's field science-based, it means one doesn't believe in God. If it gives a person comfort in times of trouble to believe in a deity, then you work with that. Forbidding psychiatric patients from reading the Bible is discrimination, which hasn't really been shown to be all that successful. Sort of like psychiatry.

I thought they weren't supposed to smile, but when you break 500 years of tradition the grins must be hard to keep to yourself. Congratulations Moira. Are you they aren't called Beefeaters because they like to drink gin?

I'm not contributing any money to any candidates, they'll be lucky if they get my vote, so I can understand why the Floridians might be a little upset. I wouldn't want to be used as an ATM either, but that has been California's role for the last few elections. Heck, sometimes they didn't even wait for us to vote before declaring a winner. Only our money mattered. Minority status sucks.

Like everything else the Bush administration does, the stepped up border checks are for show and to demonstrate who's got the power and that they know how to use it incompetently. It has nothing to do with security.

Don't you just hate it when people you don't like show up on your doorstep without warning? Then they try to tell you how to run your country, like they've done such a good job in their own home. Let the Iraqis run their country into the ground by themselves, we've done enough to get them started. Clueless and classless, that's our current President. He has to rely on bad manners because if anyone knew he was coming to town, they would have prepared a reception. With fireworks and everything.

Tragedy, Triviality, Stupidity And Foolishness

The mortgage crisis is spreading. Of course it is. People have been spending more than they make for a little too long and now that they aren't making any money, they can't pay their bills. Duh.

We need a national primary, followed thirty days later by the general election. This campaigning thing lasts way too long and after all the talk shows, debates, etc., then a few small states get to decide who the rest of us get to choose from the leftovers. States should be able to decide when they want to hold an election and if you don't want to be there, tough catooties. No wonder Americans don't bother to go to the polls anymore.

To gray or not to gray. I thought I saw a few sprinkles of gray when my hair was cut last week but since I keep mine so short it really doesn't matter what color it is. If I cared what I looked like, I would wear makeup and spend tons of money on designer clothes. I am what I am and what you see is what you get. If guys don't have to jump through hoops to impress people, why should I have to? Time thought this was so important that they did an article about it. Just reinforcing negative imaging for women, continuing to brainwash women into low self esteem about something that nature should determine, not society. Why am I not surprised? Next thing you know they will have an article about the proper dress to greet your husband when he comes home from work. Grrr.

Rock stars have an inner toddler? Who knew? The newest poster child for stupidity is Amy Winehouse. Great voice, no common sense. It's pretty bad when Courtney Love thinks you're overdoing the drugs. This is worse than shameful, it's just plain sad.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

How stupid does a geek find the "Decider" guy? Well, ask and you shall receive. Found over at the Dark Wraith. Not only is it quotable, many more people should be able to enjoy it. If only I could express myself like this.

In a comment at Big Brass Blog, long-time reader tali quoted someone named "imiga," who posted a comment to an article at The Washington Post about George W. Bush. This diatribe on the stupidity of the President is worthy, so it is republished in edited form below:

I can't believe there are still folks out there believing in this imbecile who has absolutely no knowledge of history...

I cannot believe how incredibly stupid he is. I mean rock-hard stupid. Dehydrated-rock-hard stupid. Stupid, so stupid it goes way beyond the stupid we know into a whole different dimension of stupid. He is trans-stupid stupid.

Meta-stupid. Stupid collapsed on itself so far that even the neutrons have collapsed. Stupid gotten so dense that no intellect can escape. Singularity stupid. Blazing hot mid-day sun on Mercury stupid. He emits more stupid in one second than our entire galaxy emits in a year. Quasar stupid. Nothing in our universe can really be this stupid. Perhaps this is some primordial fragment from the original big bang of stupid. Some pure essence of a stupid so uncontaminated by anything else as to be beyond the laws of physics that we know.

Indeed, a most worthy assessment by imiga.

Yes, it was. Thank you imiga.