Random Thoughts

Back in 1974 I learned to repair the guidance control systems on four (Lance, TOW, Dragon and Shillelagh) different missiles while I was stationed at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL. I liked the city, it was friendly and comfortable to an 18 year old out on her own for the first time. I saw Elvis, the Guess Who, and Alice Cooper at the newly built Von Braun Civic Center. I don't remember the comedian but I do remember the joke. "The Von Braun Civic Center; seating for 50,000, parking for 200." Parking was miles away. Those were good times.

One of the main reasons I prefer being single is because I am incapable of submitting to a man's will, just because he is a man. I am not a servant and never will be. Mike Huckabee is a shining example of everything that I find wrong with marriage and he isn't going to be able to hide the fact that he thinks women are supposed to be maids, cooks, breeders and whatever else his little heart desires.

The RIAA can kiss my backside. I've paid for every song I own, which is one of the reasons I now buy from iTunes instead of cds. Why should I pay for songs I don't want? I've transferred all my cds to the computer and play them in a format that is convenient to me, my iPod. It's small enough to carry anywhere which is more than I can say for a cd. If they are determined to maintain that it is illegal to transfer a song from a cd that I paid for to the computer that I paid for, then I just won't buy any more cds, not even used ones. Ever. And neither will anyone else.

Food labels have undergone several changes in the last twenty years, not all of them good. You used to be able to see the complete nutritional content but then they eliminated all but a few vitamins and minerals (A, C, Calcium and Iron). Well, they are going to revamp them again and supposedly they will let you know which foods are healthy and which aren't by using a 1 to 100 scale. I like the simple method. Cook from scratch but not everybody has the time or the inclination to do that.

Talking out both sides of their orifice award goes to the NY Times. If things are so bad, why did they hire William Kristol? He's been the chief cheerleader in the Iraq debacle and is willing to extend that mistake to Iran. Sheesh, the hypocrisy is mind numbing.

Going In The Right Direction

Mom fell last night, hit her head and lost one of her lenses. I was walking the dog so she just went to bed and didn't say anything. She has a black eye and my stress level is through the roof so I needed something to cheer me up.
I've seen Robert Randolph and The Family Band in concert and they definitely rock. A good time can be had by all.

Life And Death Decisions

Is health care a right or a privilege? If you have health insurance, shouldn't it cover you, no matter what? Otherwise, what's the point? After the last few weeks of stories of insurance denials and their tragic consequences, why are people still paying for health insurance? A cubicle clerk with no medical training routinely makes decisions overruling the doctor.

Doctors and nurses spend years learning about the human body and the many things that can go wrong with it. All so that their professional opinions are worth less than someone who fills out forms and plays on the internet on company time. The system is broken.

Everybody should have access to decent health care. Rich, poor, young, old, white, black, male or female. Period. A person shouldn't have to pass a credit check, have a credit card, cash or insurance in order to receive medical or dental services. Having insurance is no guarantee of service if you get ill and while insurance companies don't mind sentencing a child to die due to neglect, it is against the law to abuse children. If the parents were withholding food, they would be prosecuted. Why is this different?

A healthy population is more productive and in the long run will generate more income for business, other than the insurance companies, than letting little problems become big medical issues that require an emergency room visit. That isn't cost effective at all. But it is all we have.

3Bs

Presidential Omelette

Bush is like a kid who was left home alone. He's spent seven years destroying everything he touches, overflowing the bathtub, ignoring the rules of the house, spending all the cash on the premises after running up the credit card bill and now that the parents are on their way he's trying to clean up the house and repair the garden so they will think he didn't damage anything. The sad part is that a lot of people will fall for it, but just like Humpty Dumpty, the country can't be put back together.

3Bs

Supporting The Troops, Not!

Now if the Demowienies had any intelligence or cojones, they would jump all over veto #8. Ater all the radio addresses accusing the Demowienies of not sending him the Defense bill and that they were going to cause everything to come to a grinding halt and that they weren't supporting the troops, yada, yada, the Decider has decided to veto the Defense bill. Because Saddam Hussein's victims might have access to money in US banks. Are you kidding me?

What a flying load of bull excrement. Why not say that the toilet paper is wet or that it's a full moon, or perhaps something believable, like the truth.

The Bush administration has made a concerted effort, including screwing over its own injured citizens, to make sure that while Hussein was bad enough to start a war that has killed a million people, his victims deserve nothing. Absolutely nothing.

And neither do our troops. Which is probably closer to the truth than the pitiful excuse Bush just used.

Sleep on America, the illusion of a democracy will all be over soon.

Mission Unaccomplished

The global war on terror isn't nearly as successful as the war of terror. The war on terror kills innocent civilians and restricts the peoples rights in a futile effort to outsmart the desperate, meanwhile the war of terror claims important victims, one right after the other. I had a bad feeling about her return from the beginning. Now Benazir Bhutto is dead (they had an obituary ready for a 54 year old woman), at the hands of one of those suicide bombers that are so popular in the Middle East. What a freakin' shame. Hopefully the damage can be contained otherwise this could be one of those World War starter situations since fanatics always prefer the extreme solution.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (Christmas at Camp David, New Years in Crawford. Tough life.), the usual confusion ensues. My Pet Goat all over again. Nobody could have foreseen, yada, yada, yada. Please don't tell me that the fall back plan isn't to leave the Middle East as a flaming ball of goo and hope it doesn't spread to our shores. But it probably is.

What exactly has the war on terror accomplished other than spending money we don't have? According to Ted Stevens, currently the Republican Senator from Alaska, the physical war is costing us 15 billion a month. Which is more than the Congressional Research Service (CRS, with obviously poor memories) estimates. You would think that our soldiers lives were as precious as those who perished on 9/11, but you would be wrong. Most of that money is being spent to buy or repair war toys because they don't think they are going to get as much money next year. I don't know why, they've gotten everything they've asked for so far.

3Bs

Let's Pretend

That in a rational world this wouldn't be happening and that crap like this wouldn't be snuck in over the holidays. Winner of the "does doing drugs make me look stupider than a normal conservative" is Stephen Rose and his somewhat less than brilliant essay on myths about the middle class. Only a mother could love someone who thinks that $30K-100K in 2007 will pay for the same amount of living that it did in 1979 or that the decline of the middle class is because the poor didn't get richer.

Per capita gross domestic product has increased by more than 65 percent since 1979 -- growth that translates to $26,000 per household. If all that money had gone to the richest 10th of the population, it would now hold more than 60 percent of the national income. That's nearly twice as much as the super rich actually have, according to the best census surveys available.

snip...

True, fewer people today live in households with incomes between $30,000 and $100,000 (a reasonable definition of "middle class") than in 1979. But the number of people in households that bring in more than $100,000 also rose from 12 percent to 24 percent. There was no increase in the percentage of people in households making less than $30,000. So the entire "decline" of the middle class came from people moving up the income ladder. For married couples, median incomes have grown in inflation-adjusted dollars by 25 percent since 1979.

Even moms have issues with those who try to pander to their "betters" by trying to make it look like everyone but the poor made gobs of money in the last forty years, which is quite far from the truth but you have to look somewhere else for the information.

Wealth has become even more concentrated during the Bush years. Today, the richest one percent of Americans has 22 percent of all income and about 40 percent of all wealth. This is the biggest concentration of income and wealth since 1928. In 2005, average CEO pay was 369 times that of the average worker, compared with 131 times in 1993 and 36 times in 1976. At the pinnacle of America's economic pyramid, the nation's 400 billionaires own 1.25 trillion dollars in total net worth - the same amount as the 56 million American families at the bottom half of wealth distribution.

Does the babbling Rose let reality affect his opinion? Of course not, we still have the fuzzy employment statistics to suffer through. Just like wind velocity didn't exist in your first physics problem, high school and college graduates don't influence this equation either.

The claim that automation and international trade will create a large class of permanently unemployed American workers remains as fuzzy as ever. Certainly, in the churn of the modern economy, more firms are closing or reducing their labor forces. Every week for the past several years, nearly 1 million workers either quit or lost their jobs. But a slightly higher number were also hired in a typical week. At the national level, overall employment has grown slowly but steadily. And Commerce Department data show that even at the state level, including in Midwestern "Rust Belt" states, employment is up at least 14 percent since 1993, the year the North American Free Trade Agreement was passed.

But my absolute favorite was his assumption (and you know what they say about assuming), that companies weren't walking away from their commitments to retirees. Just goes to show that the WaPo doesn't read the NYTimes.

The policy, set forth in a new regulation, allows employers to establish two classes of retirees, with more comprehensive benefits for those under 65 and more limited benefits — or none at all — for those older.

More than 10 million retirees rely on employer-sponsored health plans as a primary source of coverage or as a supplement to Medicare, and Naomi C. Earp, the commission’s chairwoman, said, “This rule will help employers continue to voluntarily provide and maintain these critically important health benefits.”

So much for loyalty, it isn't like these rules start for the new hires. Nope, they apply to the people who have already paid their dues, need it the most, matter the least and have no way of changing their circumstances.

Let's pretend that America is still the place that if you work hard to make a company get ahead, that it will help you when you are old. Mind altering drugs are advised since reality is not cooperating.

3Bs

Back In The Saddle

Our country is completely effed up. Remember when the job of the police was to help the public, not impose behavioral controls? This tasering craze is completely out of control and now any display of emotion or asking a question that somebody doesn't want to answer is taken as reason enough to administer a punishment without knowing all the facts. If some minimum wage nitwit starts to accuse me of stealing my own credit card, my voice is going to get loud and my arms are going to wave. If cops are so afraid of everyone that they have to either shoot or electrocute in order to "control" a situation, maybe the current crop of shoot first and ask questions later cops should find another job and there should be personality tests administered to prospective recruits that would reduce the testosterone response and increase the ability to think. But that would defeat the goal of a police state, now wouldn't it?

A new low of shameful has once again been reached. The Demowienies are again doing what they do best and it isn't working for the benefit of their constituents. Rage and cave. Over 300 million people in this country and we get the weak ones to represent us. They leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of office and once they get there, a wet noodle has more backbone.

Some members of the "chattering class" have more insight than others, though I still doubt the the crew without a clue has any intention of leaving office. Quietly or otherwise.

The Last Word On Christmas

For your reading pleasure during this holiday season . . . :) MERRY CHRISTMAS (In Legalese):

Please accept without obligation, express or implied, these best wishes for an environmentally safe, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, and gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday as practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice (but with respect for the religious or secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or for their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all) and further for a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated onset of the generally accepted calendar year (including, but not limited to, the Christian calendar, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures). The preceding wishes are extended without regard to the race, creed, age, physical ability, religious faith or lack thereof, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee(s).

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS:

Whereas, on or about the night prior to Christmas, there did occur at a certain improved piece of real property (hereinafter "the House") a general lack of stirring by all creatures therein, including, but not limited to a mouse.

A variety of foot apparel, e.g., stocking, socks, etc., had been affixed by and around the chimney in said House in the hope and/or belief that St. Nick a/k/a/ St. Nicholas a/k/a/ Santa Claus (hereinafter "Claus") would arrive at sometime thereafter. The minor residents, i.e. the children, of the aforementioned House were located in their individual beds and were engaged in nocturnal hallucinations, i.e. dreams, wherein vision of confectionery treats, including, but not limited to, candies, nuts and/or sugar plums, did dance, cavort and otherwise appear in said dreams.

Whereupon the party of the first part (sometimes hereinafter referred to as ("I"), being the joint-owner in fee simple of the House with the party of the second part (hereinafter "Mamma"), and said Mamma had retired for a sustained period of sleep. At such time, the parties were clad in various forms of headgear, e.g., kerchief and cap.

Suddenly, and without prior notice or warning, there did occur upon the unimproved real property adjacent and appurtenant to said House, i.e., the lawn, a certain disruption of unknown nature, cause and/or circumstance. The party of the first part did immediately rush to a window in the House to investigate the cause of such disturbance.

At that time, the party of the first part did observe, with some degree of wonder and/or disbelief, a miniature sleigh (hereinafter "the Vehicle") being pulled and/or drawn very rapidly through the air by approximately eight (8) reindeer. The driver of the Vehicle appeared to be and in fact was, the previously referenced Claus.

Said Claus was providing specific direction, instruction and guidance to the approximately eight (8) reindeer and specifically identified the animal co-conspirators by name: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen (hereinafter "the Deer"). (Upon information and belief, it is further asserted that an additional co- conspirator named "Rudolph" may have been involved.)

The party of the first part witnessed Claus, the Vehicle and the Deer intentionally and willfully trespass upon the roofs of several residences located adjacent to and in the vicinity of the House, and noted that the Vehicle was heavily laden with packages, toys and other items of unknown origin or nature. Suddenly, without prior invitation or permission, either express or implied, the Vehicle arrived at the House, and Claus entered said House via the chimney.

Said Claus was clad in a red fur suit, which was partially covered with residue from the chimney, and he carried a large sack containing a portion of the aforementioned packages, toys, and other unknown items.

He was smoking what appeared to be tobacco in a small pipe in blatant violation of local ordinances and health regulations.

Claus did not speak, but immediately began to fill the stocking of the minor children, which hung adjacent to the chimney, with toys and other small gifts. (Said items did not, however, constitute "gifts" to said minor pursuant to the applicable provisions of the U.S. Tax Code.)

Upon completion of such task, Claus touched the side of his nose and flew, rose and/or ascended up the chimney of the House to the roof where the Vehicle and Deer waited and/or served as "lookouts." Claus immediately departed for an unknown destination.

However, prior to the departure of the Vehicle, Deer and Claus from said House, the party of the first part did hear Claus state and/or exclaim: "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!" Or words to that effect.

Christmas Wrapping

Merry Christmas!

Thoughts Before Christmas

Thank you Christoper Reeve. His determination to walk again and his willingness to be in the public eye helped to change how spinal injury patients are treated. Kevin Everett is up and about four months after severely injuring his spinal cord, proving once again the power of science and medicine. Praying is good if you can't do anything else, but it isn't the most constructive action to take in a crisis. God gave us brains and he expects us to use them and amazing things can happen when we do.

Wouldn't payroll and the costs of being open seriously cut into the profit margin?

I know television has already let the cat out of the bag and the rest of the world knows that The Decider is an idiot, but now he's going to take the show on the road and let them experience his stupidity in person. Hopefully he'll be able to properly exit stage right the next time.

Last year I made an Alton Brown Rib Roast recipe (it's not on the site anymore) and this year I'm going to make Paula Deen's Foolproof Standing Rib Roast with my own seasonings and a homemade Horseradish Sauce. Our starter will be Golden Beet Soup (if Cosentino's gets them in this morning), otherwise I'm going to have to think on the fly. The accompaniments will be Macaroni and Blue Cheese with Chives and Spicy Southern Greens (my own recipe). It should be fun.

Not A Tax Write Off

A billion here, a billion there, sooner or later it adds up to real money. Money that we owe the Chinese, the Saudis, and anybody else stupid enough to finance America's fear addled rampage through countries half a world away.

So, do you feel safer, poorer or taken advantage of?

Different Day, Mostly The Same Crap

Over a year has gone by since we changed the deck chairs on the Titanic, also known as the Demowienies taking "control" of Congress. As most people have noticed, nothing changed. Absolutely nothing. Bush is still running the country into the ground; his cronies are still increasing their portfolios at phenomenal rates; the poor are even poorer and now have even more competition for the bottom of the economic ladder; New Orleans is being remade into a city that the former residents can't afford; and even more corruption, lying and cover-ups have been revealed. See what you get when impeachment is off the the table? If we do have an election next year, they all need to be replaced with people who really will represent us, not rage and cave, or even worse, bluff and fold.

Anybody who thinks that the tapes were the only thing withheld from the 9/11 commission, is not dealing with a full deck. And people wonder why conspiracy theories abound. No matter what Bill Maher believes, I come from the school of if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it ain't a goose.

The little Christmas tree that could...bring a tear to my eye. That was a great story. How many Americans would have kept a tradition that long and under such difficult circumstances?

My family knows this one well. Dad died on the Fourth of July and mom had her stroke on Christmas Eve. Don't you just love the holidays?

I've been following this study since I was in school in the nineties. We have learned so much about Alzheimer's from one guy's need to do a thesis.
However many kids these nuns may have terrorized in their youth, what they have done for the rest of us is very much appreciated.

Bigger. Faster. Better. No, it's not the Bionic Woman or the Six Million Dollar man. It's the collection and collation of biometric data on people who haven't done anything wrong, they're just breathing and they might be a little brown. Will this information be put to good use? Somehow I doubt it. What I don't doubt is that we are at 665 and aren't aware that a really bad number comes next.

3Bs

Sarcasm Central

Good grief, she's not Amy Winehouse. Suspending a seventh grader for receiving a chocolate candy that had a half ounce of vodka in it seems to be a little extreme. She might not have known that the vodka was in the candy. Obviously the person who turned her in for receiving a gift knew what was in it, shouldn't they have been questioned a little more thoroughly? What about the friend who originally brought the candy, was she suspended too? Otherwise some might think that the school had it in for this student.

Duh! was popular as a news topic this morning. They didn't call it that but rational people saw it coming. Unfortunately, none of them are running the country. Whereas these jokers are running the country into the ground, which is why they don't care about the people or the air they breathe.

No kidding? There was fraud involved in the mortgage meltdown? Wow, who would have guessed?

Of course they did. It was a foregone conclusion. What Katrina started, the politicians decided to finish. The destruction of low income housing. They've done their best to make sure that the residents had nothing to come home to. Now that they have no trailers and no affordable apartments the next thing the council will probably do is to outlaw homelessness.

Welcome to America.

Thursday's Oddities

Synchronized global orgasm day. What will they think of next? December 22nd at the exact moment of the solstice, 6:08 GMT, otherwise known as 10:08 pm (you can find your time here) on the West coast. That makes it Friday night, some people should be participating.

So much for getting rid of Saddam Hussein and his torture chambers. The devil you know and all that. No matter how much the crew without a clue tries to spin it, Iraq is NOT better off than before we invaded it, destroyed their infrastructure and returned their women to the dark ages.

Taking care of my mom is a solitary enterprise, in more ways than one. My brothers contribute neither money nor time but at least they have quit criticizing. I get no breaks except for when I hang out with the BARBarians, so yes, I am quite resentful of the load. It doesn't matter how much I beg, plead or whine, they won't take her for even one weekend. It's been almost eight years and other than a few meals, I have carried the load myself. I'm certainly not going to see a movie that has any relationship to my life. I'm depressed enough.

Bushies never met a side of the coin they couldn't turn to their advantage. Like most people, I want to breathe clean air. Most people doesn't seem to include the EPA or members of the Bush administration. In my American Government class we were taught that the states could have stronger laws than the Federal government but not weaker ones. Which is why the Bush administration feels that they can ignore the states who have changed their marijuana laws and conduct raids on dispensaries. Now they feel that California's laws are too stringent.

These guys are making the Rapture look appetizing. If only to get rid of them before they destroy the world.

Fire, Food And Attitude

It looks like there was a bonfire near Cheney's office in the Executive Office building. That must have been a whole lot of secret tapes and memos that can now be officially classified as being lost in a fire. How convenient.

Good food is expensive and if you have a limited income or live by yourself, it costs less to eat at McDonalds or a microwave a frozen dinner than it is to cook from scratch. It's always interesting reading the comments. This time it's perfectly clear that those who have money and can afford to eat well don't understand what it's like at the bottom of the economic ladder. The choice between rent and food is a real one, one that the poor and elderly have been faced with for years. A loaf of bread and a gallon of milk are more than five dollars and are sold at a grocery store on the other side of town. If you stick to the value menu at a fast food joint you can get two or three meals for the same price and you won't have to travel far to get it. In the city there are more fast food places than there are grocery stores. Which means you don't even get the chance to buy apples.

Don't tase me, Bro' might be the most memorable quote of the year but Joe Biden made the top 10 twice.

I'm using a new extension called Personas. It changes the skin on the fly without restarting Firefox. Right now I'm using the Winter Green theme and it looks pretty good.

Brain Goes Kaboom!

The Beatles and Stairway to Heaven should have nothing in common. In a perfect world. I think I need drugs to watch this.



Major drugs.

Random Thoughts

Cookie Jill over at Skippy's place brought to my attention a travesty in my former back yard. It seems that Chevron has decided to try and raise the water rates approximately 138 percent and the residents of Casmalia were already paying almost 40 percent more than the rest of Santa Barbara County. Casmalia is a very small town with one of the greatest steak restaurants (you pick your steak and they cook it perfectly over some of the best oak wood) in the world. It's where my dad took me for my 18th birthday and once when I lived in Los Angeles, I drove up there for dinner and didn't stop to see my parents even though they were less than a mile away from the highway. I felt guilty both times I passed the house.

Corporations are abusing the power they have over the people. It's bad enough that they make obscene profits on the energy that they sell us consumers, but whoever thought it would be a good idea for them to control an essential service like water didn't have the best interests of the public in mind. If they ever learn to control the weather, we are all going to be sorry.

Suddenly It's Christmas the longest holiday.

Just watched Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with mom. She loved it. Her reasoning for this made no sense at all, she says she doesn't remember the first (who does?) but when Michael Chiklis showed up as human (not The Thing) she said: The Commish? She can't remember to pick up her tray when getting her food so she constantly dumps her food on the floor, but she can add ten years, subtract weight and hair and recognize some actor from the 90's? Vascular dementia is very strange.

I hate being a tin foiler, but in the last few days we've had stories about laser gunships, now there is synthetic DNA and robots with attitude. Could a bad scifi future be in the cards if they all get together? Or will the dancing robots cancel it all out?

And The Answer Is?

Trying to drown the part of government that helps people, in a bathtub.

Unfortunately, the question was...where was Washington? Why anybody still believes that the government is going to help them, I'll never understand. They let an American city and it's inhabitants, drown so they could change the "landscape". What more does anybody need to know?

Support The Writer's Strike

It really doesn't matter how much of a cost savings the networks think they are going to have due to the Writer's strike and the increased reliance on reality shows, that will dry up soon. While America may be a superficial nation in more regards than are seemly, reality television is only attractive to those who like to see others suffer and fail. That glow will pall soon. Perhaps if networks would let new shows air more than once or twice, they wouldn't have to produce so many pilots. Some shows are so bad that the don't need more than one or two airings before being canceled, but shows like Firefly were canceled even though they had a loyal following.

I worked at Universal for several years and the one thing that was made clear to me, even more that years of television watching, is that the majority of shows are made for the lowest common denominator. That doesn't require much talent from anyone involved. Heroes was a brilliant show last year, but when they dumbed it down at the beginning of the season it lost viewers. I watched the first year of Desperate Housewives but three episodes into the second season, I was done. Brilliant writing, not notations from executives trying to homogenize everything to increase viewership, is the key. This explains my love of the third season of Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica and other "arc" shows.

The Writer's strike is having an effect because the writers are valuable. Actors, directors and studio heads can, and have, been replaced and the shows have continued successfully. Usually when you replace the head writers or creators, the show goes down hill and gets canceled. Bionic Woman is the current example.

I miss The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, they need to come back so we have truth in news again. I know they are supposed to be comedy shows but they are the only ones who bother to comment on the important stuff that is glossed over by the news organizations in their efforts to be the Bush administration's mouthpieces.

The holidays will be over soon and then the networks are probably going to notice a big drop in viewership as people rediscover talking with friends, playing with their kids and pets or surf the internet for entertainment and intellectual stimulation. Paying the writers a decent wage and continuing to pay them every time the shows are aired, no matter what medium, is the smart thing to do. Trying to keep all the money for themselves will leave the studios all dressed up and no where to go. Not even to the awards ceremonies.

3Bs

Educational Differences

Why are the Chinese ahead of the United States in math and science?

Let's see, this is China.


This is America.


Any questions?

Covering Up Illegal Activities

Trying to use the lame excuse of a Justice Department that hasn't accomplished anything but political hackery in the last seven years, the Bush administration doesn't want the judge to investigate the flagrant disregard of his orders regarding the destruction of the torture tapes, because it might interfere with the Congressional investigation that they are also trying to muzzle. But with stories like this, of course they want to keep it quiet.

Special Prosecutor, now that's funny. Considering everything that Bush and Cheney have gotten away with since coming into office, something tells me this is probably going to go the way of Fitzmas. Pffft!

The Bush squeeze play in action. Since their plan to Christianize the military isn't working out so well, now they want to control the promotions of military lawyers. They might as well come right out and say that everyone serves at the pleasure of the president, as long as they go along with the pogrom program. Politics, not competency is the hallmark of this administration. And taking care of the country takes a back seat to politics. Isn't that known as a dictatorship in other countries?

After several years of war, why do the troops need emergency funds? Shouldn't the war have been budgeted for or has it not worked out as planned?

Shameful, Shameful

Okay, how sick do you have to be to steal a WII from a senior citizen's center? Hopefully some good Samaritan will replace it for them since they had to sell recipe books to be able to afford the first one. There really is no respect for our elders anymore.

Probably just as sick as these two criminals who raped a 19 year old girl coming home from her birthday party because they were mad at her boyfriend. When will the day come when women aren't considered the property of some man?

This 'N That

Quick question. If pitchers were using steroids, does that mean that the Barry Bonds homerun record doesn't have to have an asterisk? All things being equal and all. The poor Yankee fans. Oh well, you get what you pay for.

Madonna always got on my nerves, but my dad thought she was wonderful. He thought (and he was right) that she was brilliant for controlling all aspects of her music. Like the rest of us, she grew up and became responsible but somehow I still don't think she belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She's not a rocker. Plus, now she looks pretty tame in comparison to Amy Winehouse.

Whoop-de-freakin-doo! Voting to censure Rove and Bolten is like stapling a condom to a practice safe sex brochure. Useless.

Of course the early primary voters determine who we get stuck with for candidates. Why anybody had to do a study on it, I'll never understand. You don't know how many times I've looked at my primary ballot and most of the candidates have already dropped out of the race. I vote in the primary because of the propositions, because by the time the race gets to California, everything is over except the crying. So no, my vote doesn't count. Heck it barely counts in the general election. It's all about the money.

It's official, Bush hates kids and doesn't believe in the future. He snuck in his second veto of the children's health insurance bill still using the excuse that it covers adults. Like if the parent dies because they couldn't see the doctor, the kids will be okay. He doesn't have to worry about his veto being overturned since the Demowienies in the Senate are either suffering from Stockholm syndrome or actively practicing their hold and fold strategy. Don't you just love how they fight each other instead of presenting a united front and dealing with the real problem? The emperor won't have to dissolve this senate.

Family Values

In my family, lying was not tolerated. Neither was fudging the truth or playing one parent against the other. Penalties were swift and harsh, ensuring that we never made the same mistake again. Unfortunately, the crew without a clue who are currently running the country into the ground weren't raised in the same way. It's sad how with all of their education they are still ruled by their reptilian brains.

Feith told Jeffrey Goldberg in The New Yorker that “My family got wiped out by Hitler, and ... all this stuff about working things out — well, talking to Hitler to resolve the problem didn’t make any sense to me. The kind of people who put bumper stickers on their car that declare that ‘War is not the answer,’ are they making a serious comment? What’s the answer to Pearl Harbor? What’s the answer to the Holocaust?”

And Osama been Forgotten (again!) doesn't make the list? What's up with that? Meanwhile in secret prisons around the world we were using and filming torture excuse me, enhanced interrogation techniques, on people who were severely wounded by gunfire and people think it's okay because their prison wasn't specifically mentioned by a judge? If it's wrong in one prison, it's wrong in every other. Dad didn't let us split hairs like that.

The CIA destroyed the tapes in November 2005. That June, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. had ordered the Bush administration to safeguard "all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees now at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay."

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler issued a nearly identical order that July.

At the time, that seemed to cover all detainees in U.S. custody. But Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the terrorism suspects whose interrogations were videotaped and then destroyed, weren't at Guantanamo Bay. They were prisoners that existed off the books — and apparently beyond the scope of the court's order.

Ahh, the humanity. Or lack thereof. What bothers me the most about this is that it was so widespread. So many people went along with the program, never questioning themselves or their orders but all too willing to put to the question anybody that fit a certain profile. By deciding that people were guilty and trying to get information by any means necessary to confirm their suspicions, any moral high ground was lost to the dustbins of history. Just like every other debacle of this Bush league administration, no one could have anticipated that the truth would eventually come out.

Well, it's out now and even some of Bush's staunchest supporters are willing to question the administration's behavior.

House minority leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters yesterday that he supports a thorough congressional inquiry.

"I think that we need to get to the bottom of why the tapes were made, why they were destroyed, under what authority were they made, and under what authority were they destroyed," Boehner said.

I'm thinking of teaching Shadow some doggie tricks, now all I have to do is figure out how to use the Demowienies ability to roll over and play dead as an example.

3Bs

Real Genius?

First it was fiction, now it's fact. Somehow I just don't feel safe.

Good Times, Bad Times

Not much going on that the rest of the blogosphere hasn't beat to death. Waterboarding is torture, Bush lied, the housing crisis isn't being helped by the Bush proposal and we're all going to hell in a handbasket. So, since I'm in full avoidance mode...YouTube has Led Zeppelin videos from last night's one night stand available for watching.



I wish I had been there.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

This unlikely pair does. I had a bad day yesterday and then faithful reader Rick sent me this link. It may be almost ten years old, but it's still heartwarming.

Tragedy, Stupidity And Envy

What part of You Know I'm No Good did people not understand? Rehab (you can see the hard living has taken its toll)was written in direct response to the last efforts to help her. Amy Winehouse is a troubled soul with a dynamite voice. The odds are she won't be long for this world and if I was her mother I would start making plans for her funeral while keeping in polite touch in case Amy comes to her senses. Oh, it looks like she's already doing that.

Even when the "intelligence community" was remade into some bizarre image of conservative competency, it still won't produce the "smoking gun" so Duck! Cheney can have his mushroom cloud. It isn't the job of the agencies to produce information that conforms to your plans, it's their job to produce accurate information that reflects the facts. Why conservatives are so anxious to get involved in another conflict that we won't finish, I'll never understand. It will only cost us time, troops, materials and what's left of our world image. Plus it will completely destroy what's left of the military. Which sounds like the point, even though they try to distract you with red herrings like Nancy Pelosi was at the meeting.

Do you like to compare yourself to other people and their perceived accomplishments? Then this site is for you. I quit doing it to myself when I realized that at the age of twelve that Michael Jackson was always going to have more money than me and that there had to be something more to life. It's still a bummer about the money.

What is The Reason For The Season?

My childhood memories of Christmas are much different than the holiday that is celebrated now. It was about getting together and sharing. I remember carolers coming around and everyone standing in their doorway to listen to them. People baked cookies, gave them hot drinks and waited for an encore. I always wanted to do that but it had already started to fall out of fashion by the time I was eleven. We still caroled, but we were carted around on the back of a flatbed truck that was covered with hay. Nobody worried about insurance issues and nobody fell off the truck.

Nowadays I can't remember all the words, they've just become jingles that you hear in the background of tv shows and movies, nobody sings the whole song anymore. Rudolph is all right, but Hark the Herald Angels Sing could really rock if you had enough people and somehow We Three Kings of Orient Are became We Four Beatles From Liverpool Are. We were so innocent back then.

I miss the cookies and the warmth. I miss hanging out with people who were excited and happy about the holidays, where you went to people's homes and enjoyed their hospitality and learned about their traditions and they came to your house. The world actually felt more peaceful for a few weeks. It was awesome.

Now, it's nonstop commercialism. It starts slowly at first, just a few decorations start to appear, a few holiday looking serving dishes show up in the store and then by Halloween, bam! full steam ahead. Anything that can be sold has a commercial, there is no other explanation for the chia pet and its many incarnations.

Advertisers resort to subtle and not so subtle exhortations to buy something for everybody you know or have some type of contact with so you won't feel guilty for forgetting someone who might buy you a gift. By the time they get around to advertising diamonds during sports events, it's become a nonstop lollapalooza, a frenetic shopping extravaganza. And there are still the buy a car and put a ribbon around it so they know you love them commercials to suffer through. Like the people who can afford to buy a Jaguar are watching television.

Once Christmas became the season that retailers made their profit for the year, that was when it became the war on Christmas. The battle shouldn't be about whether one should say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays (both are appropriate), it should be about what happened to the sentiment that used to accompany it. Goodwill toward man and all that. A time to celebrate with family, friends and great food, to create memories filled with smiles, laughter and warm moments.

Not fighting for parking spaces or the last "got to have" item on the shelf. And it certainly isn't about how much money you spent.

3Bs and IIRTZ

Just Because I Like It

Not the greatest singer (worse than Dylan) in the world but I love the song.

Humanity Is Lacking

I want my country back. If you are captured in the war on terror, then you should be considered a prisoner of war and entitled to all the legal protections thereof. Unless the country you happen to offend is America, in which case you can count on justice denied. Sort of like one of those third world countries we used to feel superior to.

A man tries to kill himself by slicing his throat open with a sharpened fingernail after being held at Gitmo for over six years where only 80 of the 305 prisoners are actually suspected of committing a crime and the Supreme Court has doubts about whether these guys should be receiving adequate representation and due process? They can't see or call witnesses that can help them, they don't know the evidence against them and they have been there for many years without a trial. Why is there even a debate? One might think that the United States thinks that God died and crowned us king and that everyone who isn't melanin impaired is just an animal deserving to be caged or put down. Except that we give our animals more respect.

Breathing while black definitely has disadvantages. Not only are you ten times more likely to spend time in prison, but over 52% of people polled believe that the death penalty is most appropriately used on black people. There is no polite way to say this, but the US is a fucked up country.

How did we fall so far, so fast? How did the "United States" turn into a squabbling, fearful of our own shadow, whiny, blubbering ball of cowardice? It isn't the fault of some long haired, bearded nutjob on the other side of the world, that would be what used to be the free press and our current form of government masquerading as compassionate conservatism. They've done a wonderful job of changing the land of the free into the home of the incarcerated.

Next thing you know they'll make it illegal to defend anyone of color.

On A Personal Note

The accident debacle is over. The insurance company totaled the car and I used the money to buy a used sedan, a new television and an iMac. I had to retake my written driver's test, take a totally different vision test and the most involved driving test that should be a requirement for everyone. I passed all the tests and the DMV accepted the note from my doctor saying that it was okay to drive with my right foot, so they sent me a letter saying that the matter was closed.

My insurance company found me 100% at fault but they didn't cancel me or raise my rates. All in all I was a very lucky girl.

Mom has been deteriorating quickly. I left a very angry message with one of my brothers that after the holidays I am going to put her in a home. I haven't heard anything from them because it doesn't make a difference in their lives. It totally rearranges mine.

My thyroid has completely shut down and I'm probably going to have to go on medication. I'm never warm and the weight keeps piling on no matter what I do.

Shadow and Shai Shai are sort of getting along. Shai tolerates Shadow and Shadow begs for attention. It's pretty funny. Dogs are the best.

Worker's Comp is supposed to be scheduling me for a QME on my foot and knee. Not bad, that only took the better part of two years. It turns out that riding a bike to help my knee was destroying my foot, which is what caused the car accident. So, now I have a bike I can't use and have to fork out money every month to go to the gym and use the elliptical machines. Life is so much fun.

Oh well, off to the gym.

Two For Tuesday

Watching America change into the scared kid from a teenage movie that keeps sucking on his inhaler, has been really hard on me, both personally and professionally. People watched the money shot from 9/11 over and over again until it froze the logic circuits in their brain. Surprise and horror gave way to sustained fear. Fear of everything and everyone. I'll never forget the guy who was stripped naked and hosed down on a San Jose runway because some woman freaked out for no reason.

The confetti incident, a true classic, occurred Saturday morning on United Airlines Flight 1669 from Chicago to San Jose, Calif. When the plane landed, with area hospitals on full alert, local and federal emergency teams stormed on board to grab the hapless passenger who caused the in-flight emergency by opening a greeting card from his girlfriend. Inside the card was some star-shaped and heart-shaped confetti glitter that spilled out and terrified a fellow passenger, who decided the plane was under bioterrorist attack.

Emergency workers ''stripped the man of his clothing, hosed him down, dressed him in a protective suit and removed him from the plane, hands behind his back,'' according to The Mercury News of San Jose. About 80 passengers were quarantined and questioned on board until health officials sounded the all-clear three hours later.

Hardly anybody remembers anthrax anymore, but we are still scared of the dark. People that is.

Good grief! Does this man ever shut up? It's hard to believe he's still babbling with his feet in his mouth. Every time Bush opens his mouth he reveals ever deepening layers of immorality, cluelessness, outright stupidity and sheer evil. This man wants to go to war at any cost and he doesn't care who gets hurt. Actually, the more the merrier. He wants World War III and uses every opportunity to try and accomplish his goal. I said he was the AntiChrist in 2000 and absolutely nothing he's said or done since then has changed my mind. Only confirmed my suspicions.

Monday Morning Blues

The Vietnam War returned many a young soldier as a drug addict. Operation Iraqi Freedom is doing the same but this time they are drugs by prescription. Dose 'em and forget 'em, but whatever you do, don't treat them for the problems created by repeated tours and the tragedies of war that leave the mind in a sensitive state.

Simple, warm and comfy are my choices.

Don't you love when they miss the obvious? If you believe in evolution, then just because chimps are raised in captivity it doesn't mean they gave up the genetic ability to notice more about what is going on around them because they aren't going to be killed at any moment. This also means we are going to have quit maligning them and find a new nickname for the nitwit in chief.

The 100 Best Mystery Novels (with links) of all time. I've read a few of them but it's hard to take a list seriously that has Murder on the Orient Express at
41 and Red Dragon at 27. Horror is not a mystery. And all this time I thought that Daphne du Maurier was writing Gothic romances.

Are You Proud To Be An American?

Why? It can't possibly be because we shine the light of freedom throughout the world. Our hubris knows no bounds, as in approaching infinity. Our government gives less than a flying fart about the sovereignty of other countries. The crew without a clue believes they have the right to kidnap anybody they want, anywhere they want, whenever they want. They don't even have to ask permission first, because just like FISA, extradition just takes too long. Of course if the tables were turned, there would be screaming and hollering on a scale that would probably cause some of the never right wingers to just stroke out.

Which is what I almost did when I read this pitiful story. And they wonder why they can't recruit qualified people. Prosecuting PTSD veterans for trying to kill themselves. What? Is she being punished because all the others were successful and she wasn't? Every aspect of the story is atrocious, especially this part.

But outside the Pentagon, the military still largely deals with mental health issues in an ad hoc way, often relying on the judgment of combat-hardened commanders whose understanding of mental illness is vague or misinformed. The stigma around psychological wounds can still be seen in the smallest of Army policies. While family members of soldiers recovering at Walter Reed from physical injuries are provided free lodging and a per diem to care for their loved ones, families of psychiatric outpatients usually have to pay their own way.

That's right. We kick them when they are down and out and then punish their families financially. Support those troops!

Slap a band-aid on the problem another ribbon on the car. Wear another bracelet. That'll help the situation.

3Bs

Welfare, War On Terror And Stupidity

Somehow I was under the misconception that the purpose of the state collecting child support from delinquent fathers was so that the kids could get the money. Boy was I wrong. It seems that the state collects the money to reimburse the feds for welfare costs. The kids get very little of it and the cycle of poverty continues. That's really efficient. This way it looks like the state is doing its job and the unfortunate can stay where they are. As hard targets for institutional racism, poor schooling and future incarceration.

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are just pesky old pieces of paper. A fifteen year old has been held in Guantanamo for the last six years and just might get his day in court. Forget the speedy trial he hasn't received as he aged into adulthood, now he isn't even allowed to know the witnesses (so much for the Sixth Amendment) against him. Because they are "worried" about the witnesses lives. I thought that was what the witness protection plan was for. Not that they should need it since the majority of witnesses are military. Presumed guilty until convicted without being able to build an adequate defense. America, the land of the free, home of the brave. Six years of this crap and they only expect to try 80 of the 305 that they are holding. All charges, no evidence. Hunger strikers are force fed through nasal tubes and others are likely to die of serious maladies before ever coming to trial.

The war on terror was never funded correctly to begin with, now it is being barely funded at all. The only thing that has happened in the last seven years is a restriction of our freedoms without a concurrent increase in our safety. Why am I not surprised? Maybe because it isn't about protecting the country, it's about controlling the people.

There are very few people that I despise so much that they are considered to be an infected pimple on the ass of humanity, but the ChimpFuhrer is one of them. He wasted a surplus, dragged us into debt so deep that our grandkids will still be trying to paying it off and now he wants Congress to pass spending bills for his pet projects (war). He should go back to reading My Pet Goat.

Of course, the Demowienies don't know much about the democratic process either. A political party determining a state's right to hold elections when they want is a power play, not democracy. It is long past time for a national primary. The stranglehold that a few states have over the rest of us must be broken. The people of California, Florida, Texas, Michigan or Montana deserve the same choice of candidates that Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina have.

Ebony and ivory. Due to the wonders of photography, Michael Jackson looks normal.
Michael Jackson looks normal again.