Inquiry into leak of NSA spying program launched - Dec 30, 2005

Great, because clearly, the leak is the problem here.

Would You Donate Your Face for a Transplant?

What the fuck is the big deal about this? I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty fucking sure that if you cut my face off and put it on someone else, the result is going to look absolutely nothing like me. You r face is just a piece of skin, what makes it look like you is the underlying bone structure and muscles. The only thing that I can see remaining at all similar to what you looked like before is the nose. Yet to hear these ethicists and doctors talk about it, you'd think that if I donate my face to someone, it's going to be traumatic because this person will have to constantly be explaining to people that they're not me, because they look just like me. It's ridiculous. I know on Face Off, when they traded faces, they looked like each other, but in real life, it just can't work that way.

I've already told my family, but in case there's any conflict, I'll document right here, that when I die, I want to donate anything that anyone can use. And if it were up to me, I'd make everyone do the same, regardless of consent. What the fuck are people hanging on to pieces of a corpse for? So they can burn it, or bury it? Especially if it can help someone else. It's ridiculous.

Many Americans Still Believe Hussein Had Links to al Qaeda

In my own somewhat related research, I have concluded that the number of hopelessly stupid adults in America is somewhere between 22 and 56 percent.

Study: Men and Women Use Internet Differently

The study also concluded that boys have a penis, while girls have a vagina. Seriously, who wastes time doing these studies to find out something that common sense could tell you in the first place?

White House Details President's Vacation Reading

Who gives a fuck? Why does anyone care what this asshole is reading? Unless it's the Constitution, because he obviously doesn't get the gist of that one. And why the hell is he on vacation again, anyway? Everytime he fucks something up, he goes on vacation 'til it blows over. How hard is that to recognize? So instead of continuing to report on how he thinks it's ok to spy on Americans, ABC News instead tells us what he is reading. Great job! Have they given out any Pulitizers yet this year?

Cal Thomas isn't very bright

After several years, we've just recently started receiving the local paper again, the Florida Times-Union. I was reading the opinion page last Thursday and had the misfortune to stumble across Cal Thomas' column, titled War on terrorism requires new methods, not naivete.

It's amazing that guys like this, who rehash tired arguments, don't check their facts, and show a complete lack of logical thought processes have this kind of national forum.

The gist of the column is that Bush was justified in using the illegal wiretaps because, if you invoke national security, then you can do anything you damn well please. Or something like that. Here are a few of his more ridiculous statements.

Talking about the New York Times anonymous sources - Just once it would be nice if the anonymous would leak something beneficial to their country. Obviously, his opinion of what's beneficial to our country differs from mine, but beyond that, what the hell is he talking about? The reason people leak information is to report that something is wrong. Happy news is announced in press conferences, not by anonymous sources.

Then he trots out another tired argument - But civil liberties mean nothing if you're killed by a terrorist who has manipulated the constitution to achieve his or her objectives. The Senate's refusal to extend the Patriot Act increases the likelihood that more of us will die sooner than we expect. No, civil liberties mean nothing if they're subject to the unchecked whims of a chief executive. The argument that our safety requires the suspension (or abolition) of liberty has never been demonstrated satisfactorily. But the dangers of giving unlimited powers to the government have been seen throughout history.

Then he makes an unwarranted assumption - Those relatively few who were spied on and had their cell phones monitored must have demonstrated their intention to aid in another terrorist attack on U.S Soil. Really, they must have, huh? I'm glad Cal is satisfied. That's the problem with this whole scenario. Letting the executive branch authorize surveillance with no oversight invites abuse. In this scenario, we're required to trust that the people in power are working in our best interests. And if they're not? Since it's secret, we won't even know enough vote them out of office, (without a whistleblower). I haven't seen much that leads me to trust that this administration has America's best interests in mind.

Then a factual error - Waiting for a judge to give permission to monitor a suspect's cell phone often takes too long. That may be the case, but as has been widely reported, FISA gives the authorites the ability to tap a phone and get the warrant after the fact. Therefore, time is no longer a concern. In that case, the only reason to ignore the requirement to get a warrant is that you think you may not get one. Or you're drunk with power. By all accounts, these warrants are extremely easy to get and are never denied, so if there was a concern about getting the warrant approved, the intelligence need must be seriously questionable.

Then he heads off into part two of his column, condemning McCain's bill banning the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners in American custody. One wishes our enemies would adopt such a standard, but they won't because they are more interested in winning than behaving nicely. The major flaw in McCain's thinking is similar to what one sees in our dealings with Israel and her enemies. It is that what we do affects what the other side does and if we will be "humane" to them, they won't blow us to smithereens. That is dangerous wishful thinking and there is no evidence to support it. These and other statements in the column show that Cal clearly supports torture, he thinks it's essential to winning. There are three major flaws in his argument. First, the idea that treating people humanely is only done to get reciprocal treatment for our own soldiers and citizens from the other side. If you've ever read Cal's columns, you know he's a conservative Christian. I'm not a Christian, but I believe that treating people humanely and loving your enemies is one of the central teachings. People should be treated well, not for the hope of any reward, just because it's the right thing to do, it makes us better people. Second, Cal, like all his ilk, make the assumption that everyone we detain is guilty. Where do they get this idea? In actual fact, the vast majority of the people we detain are innocent. We've heard that, especially in Iraq, young men are picked up by the truckload when sweeps are done. If we torture or even stop short and use humiliation and degradation, we are invariably going to harm innocent people. My guess is that people like Cal Thomas don't care about innocent Iraqis. They'll say they do, if cornered, but their positions show otherwise. Third, torture doesn't work. It's widely known that forceful interrogation is not an effective or reliable tool. Look at how many false confessions are forced out of people in this country. And that's with the checks and balances we have in place for our own citizens. Basically, Cal just buys the argument without examination, that if the bad guys behead our hostages, then we must do the same to them.

So you call us naive, Cal? Those of us who hold the U.S. to a higher standard? I think for naivete, you need to look in the mirror.

Happy Festivus!

A donation has been made in your name to The Human Fund.

Patriot Act given a 6-month reprieve

I have mixed feelings about this. While it was nice that the President had to go along with something less than what he wanted, it still bothers me that some seem to be looking at extending this piece of shit for six months as some sort of victory for progressives. The Patriot Act sucks and it needs to go...completely. Why are people so suddenly afraid of terrorism, that they're willing to go along with anything that might (and this is a key word here, most people have no idea of any really scope of terrorist activities or how new measures help or not) prevent it? Sure, September 11th was a terrible, tragic thing, and it was horrible to see. But because it happened once, doesn't suddenly make me afraid that it is coming for me next. Sure, I may die in a terrorist attack, but that's pretty unlikely. I may also die in a car accident, or from a heart attack, or in a freak skydiving accident (not likely either), and I will certainly die somehow. But I don't see the government looking for more power to regulate speed limits, or fatty foods, or skydiving, in order to keep us safer, and no one would give it to them even if they did. Death is my absolute biggest fear, but that doesn't mean that the threat of it will suddenly make me stupid. So why does it seem to do that to so many other people, especially people who supposedly believe that there is something better waiting for them when they die? I hope we all get over this collective fear before we extend this fucked up law again. And I hope next time there are no deals to allow it to continue, and that people by then have realized that it is unnecessary, and does nothing but take away from our freedom that we're all supposed to be so hell bent on protecting.

Stevens: 'This is the saddest day of my life'

What a fucking dickhead. I hope he's never had any loved ones die or anything, otherwise this looks like a pretty fucked up thing to say. At his age, I'm sure someone he knows has died. But then, I guess by now, everyone that knows him probably already realizes that he's a dickhead.

Dungy's son, 18, found dead in Tampa suburb

Tony Dungy is a great football coach, and as far as I can tell has always seemed like a genuinely good person as well. So I really feel sad to see something like this. This shouldn't happen to anyone, much less a guy like Dungy. No amount of success in his career can compensate for what he must be going through now.

I've been rooting for the Colts all year (after the Cowboys), since I like the team (and hate the '72 Dolphins). Now that they've lost a game, I wasn't quite as interested. But now I will be paying closer attention. Not that winning the Superbowl would make Dungy feel any better, but if his team gets to 13-0, then loses in the playoffs, he will take a lot of undeserved crap, which he certainly doesn't need at a time like this. Of course I still want the Cowboys to win it all, but since they'll be lucky to get in as the 6th seed in the playoffs, I don't think there will be any conflict.

Space cadets taken in by TV hoax

Shouldn't the lack of weightlessness have tipped them off? As far as I know, zero gravity isn't something you can fake very easily.

George Bush is an Asshole - May become on ongoing series

As everyone comments on this insane abuse of power by our President, I see people quoting government websites and portions of The Patriot Act where the White House assures people that all the provisions of the Patriot Act are done within the bounds of the Constitution and with judicial oversight. Of course people are rightly pointing to all these assurances as evidence of the President assuring us all of one thing, while actually doing another in secret, which is nothing new for him, but this may be the worst of what he has done that has become public, and he has admitted that it is going on (although he claims it is legal). What I'm worried about is all this discussion about the legality of the secret wiretaps may have the consequence of making people more comfortable with all the violations of their civil liberties contained in The Patriot Act. Since it isn't secret, and is all done more openly than this program that has now come to light, people may forget how much of our Freedom is actually taken away by The Patriot Act. Or, worst case, it may be renewed in some bullshit deal in order to stop all the secret stuff we're now finding out about.

In a sane world, this new revelation would have the opposite effect and would serve to focus people on violations of their civil liberties, and therefore make The Patriot Act look even worse. But, as I've learned these last few years, we definitely do not live in a sane world, so I hope that as we condemn the President's illegal activities, we also remember that his legal ones are over the line as well.

Son of the Mask

So, I'm watching this stupid movie because I thought my son might think it was funny. Anwyay, the movie starts off in a museum where Ben Stein is giving a tour featuring the mask, when one of the tourists suddenly turns into a silly green monster and starts doing all kinds of cartoonish masky sort of things, then grabs the mask, realizes it's a fake and gets upset. Now, it's been a while since I saw The Mask, but as I remember it, it was the mask itself that supplied all these powers, so I don't know how this guy was able to do all this stuff without it. Maybe this will all be cleared up later, but I don't expect to be watching much longer.

George Bush is an asshole

So now Bush breaks the law, and isn't even worried enough about it to lie about it. He openly admits it and tells anyone who doesn't support his criminal behavior to fuck off. Not that this isn't exactly the kind of shit I expect out of him and his administration, but it's pretty fucking sad to realize that he'll probably get away with it.

Listen up, idiots. This is not an issue about Bush spying on terrorists. No one likes terrorists. I know it's more comfortable for you when everything can be black and white, but reality isn't like that. This is an issue about Bush breaking the law. It's about unchecked power. Sure, it may not affect you if he spies on some terrorists (of course, we have only his word (whatever that's worth) to assure us that he's only doing this for suspected terrorists), but at some point there may be some liberty that you do enjoy that he wants to take away. And if you give him the right to take away one, it's a lot easier for him to take away the next one. Eventually, he may have a problem with something you do, or something you care about. Suppose one day he decides that Americans shouldn't be able to own guns anymore, because that makes it easier for the terrorists to own guns? I guess you might finally start to come around then. Unfortunately, it will be too late, since you dumbasses have decided to trust him with the power to decide what's good for America. No one deserves this much power, even if they are right. I don't want Bush to have it, and I wouldn't want a President I supported to have it, because it's unAmerican. It's that simple. Why anyone still supports this guy is beyond me.

W is for What an asshole.

'Iraq's Looking Good,' Cheney Tells U.S. Troops

"Well, Iraq's looking good," Cheney replied. "We've turned the corner. I think when we look back from 10 years hence, we'll see that the year '05 was in fact a watershed year here in Iraq."

emphasis mine

Wow, did he actually say that with a straight face? Someone should put together a list of all the corners we've turned, then maybe we can get an idea of how many corners there actually are in Iraq. Anyway, it takes a lot of balls to say something like that at this point. And how does no one ask him the obvious follow-up about how many corners there are?

I also heard Bush said that we're "tightening the noose" which I wondered if it was anything like "last throes" and how many of these useless comments that are obviously not backed up by any objective reality that these guys can make before they are held accountable for this mess.

The Sneeze - Steve, Don't Eat It!

If you haven't been here, you need to go. It's fucking hilarious. My wife and I were reading it a couple of nights ago and just about crying. It takes a lot to make me laugh uncontollably, but this site did it.

The Apprentice

As I watched the Apprentice finale last night, I was rooting for Randal to win, because I think he was clearly the best canidate, but I also liked Rebecca, and I thought since last week that Donald Trump just might hire both of them. So I wasn't surprised when Trump asked Randal what he thought about it. I was surprised at Randal's response. I don't see any reason why sharing a fake job is any better than having it by yourself. Especially when it is pretty clear that Randal was the better choice, I don't think anyone would have seen it as a tie. I do think it was a little unfair to put Randal in that position. I didn't ever consider that race had anything to do with that, though as this article suggests some people did. Hopefully, this won't turn into some big controversy.

McCain, Bush agree on torture ban

Wow, this is a moment that should go down in our history like the Great Compromise. Imagine, the leader of our country and congress have tentatively agreed that torturing people is a bad thing, and that it really ought to be banned. Next up for our forward-thinking leaders, a ban on taking candy from babies. (although I'm sure the administration will argue for a provision exempting the CIA, in case said candy is actually part of a terrorist plot.)

Pepsi Cappuccino

This is a bad idea. Pepsi and Coke need to just calm down and realize that cola is fine all by itself, and we don't really need a whole bunch of new flavors of it. Although I kind of like Cherry Coke, I'd be willing to have it go away if it would take Coke with Lime and Vanilla Coke with it. I guess I should at least be happy that I haven't seen that Pepsi Holiday Spice crap around this year (it tastes like there's dirt in it (but just a little bit, maybe at the bottom), if you didn't see my post on it last year (and if you didn't, what the hell is wrong with you, read the archives, dammit)).

Bob Novak: Bush knows who leaked CIA officer's identity

While it sometimes seems that Bush knowing anything would be news, this is pretty ridiculous. I can't understand how anyone would have ever thought he didn't know. The guy is loyal to his friends before the country, he lies to protect his interests, and he isn't very good at his job. Of course he knows who did it, it was probably done with his consent. And if he didn't know at the time it happened, he surely would know by now. His ridiculous comments about the case all along have been nothing more than trying to sound like he cares about it all the while waiting for it to disappear from public attention. And why not, that's a strategy that works pretty well for him. Hopefully this time it will not.

Rep. Davis wants to protect symbols of Christmas

Oh my god, could we please stop this fucking insanity? I don't know what's saddest about this story. Is it that people are actually fucking stupid enough to believe that there is any sort of attack on the celebration of Christmas? Or is it that even if there was an attack on the celebration of Christmas that people would even take any notice of it, instead of just ignoring it which if it actually existed would make it go away? Or is it that these idiots elect people even stupider that think that this is in any way the business of the United States government? Or is it that even if it was the business of the government, that people would think it's important enough to waste time on when there are so many things that are absolutely the government's business that either aren't getting done or aren't getting done well? I can't decide, but I do know that people are fucking stupid.

Look if you want to celebrate Christmas, fine, just don't get upset if everyone else doesn't happen to want to celebrate it with you. And if you don't want to celebrate Christmas, fine, but don't get upset if other people do want to celebrate it (although I think most people get this one). And if you're a religous nut that is offended by some employee at Wal-Mart telling you Happy Holidays, then shut the fuck up and let the rest of us have happy holidays (whether those holidays are Christmas, New Years, Hannakuh, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or just a day off to watch football and get presents). If you like it better when people say "Merry Christmas" then you say "Merry Christmas" and maybe in a few years, it just might catch on. Or you could just move to reality where I (and many others) live where people already say it all the time without any reservations. Assholes.

King Kong

I've never been a King Kong fan. I have to admit, I've never seen the original movie, so my opinion is not well-informed. I did see the Jessica Lange version. But mainly the story's never really appealed to me. I'm not a big fan of monster movies or movies where animals are the stars (e.g. Beethoven), and King Kong seems like the ultimate animal/monster movie.

That said, I'm really getting excited about this movie. The previews look great(don't they always, though), the reviews are very positive, and I loved the Lord of the Rings movies, so Peter Jackson's involvement carries a lot of weight with me.

So I've been reading the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and it's got an 84% positive rating from the critics, which is really good for a popular movie. Then I read the negatives to see what the handful of people who don't like it are saying. This is one of my biggest movie critic pet peeves. Of the 22 rotten reviews, the majority mention the length as a big negative factor. I can't stand this. There are a group of critics who seem to think that all movies sould be 2 hours or less, no matter what. I'm convinced half of these people saw the running time and went into the theater expecting it to be too long. If your attention span is so short, quit whining and start reviewing TV shows. These guys probably thought Lord of the Rings should have been one movie instead of three.

My position on movie length is this - if the movie's good, I want it to be longer. If it's bad, I'll just leave. I can't remember a time when I sat in a movie and thought, hey, this isn't bad, but it would be a lot better if it was 30 minutes shorter. When a movie's really good, I get caught up in it and don't really notice the time. Titanic is a good example. (I know there are plenty of people out there who hated it, but for every one of those, there were 1000 who liked it.) It was a long movie, but I was so into what was going on, I never looked down and thought, Man when is this shit going to be over?.

So I'm excited about seeing King Kong and I'm excited that it's a good, long movie. And it may very well be that it won't live up to my expectations, but if it doesn't, it won't be because it was too long.

Poor Bathroom Etiquette

I just walked into the bathroom at work and there was a guy at a urinal having a conversation with a guy in the stall. I hope I'm not the only one who finds this kind of behavior disturbing and unacceptable.

Cable Relents on Channels for the Family

Oh good, family friendly programming packages. Now that fraction of a percent of people that whine about these kinds of stupid things have a choice. Of course, only about 6 people will take advantage of these packages unless they are pushed by the cable companies, so it amounts to a big waste of time for everyone. Not that I'm not all for parents being able to control what their kids watch on TV, but there are so many better ways to do that already. TVs have the VCHIP (which no one ever uses), cable boxes all have locks that can be configured by time, channel, rating, or some combination. There are ratings on each show as it starts, and parents could actually pay attention to what their kids are watching. Of course, that's a lot of work, and who wants to take the time to do that. Also, you could raise your kids not to be closed minded morons where if they happen to see something on TV that they shouldn't (like a nipple for a second), that it won't be some catastrophic event in their childhood. The best way to make sure your kids will watch something they shouldn't is to tell them they can't watch it without any explanation of why it's inappropriate. And nothing you do will keep your kids from seeing things they shouldn't now and then, whether they do it on purpose, or by accident. But if you handle it correctly, it shouldn't be such a big deal. And handling it correctly does not entail writing letters to the FCC wondering why they don't care about your children. It's not the government's or anyone else's job to raise your children for you.

At least we didn't end up with a la carte programming, which I had seen suggestions of. Because, although it sounds pretty attractive, only paying for the channels you really want, I just don't think it would work in practice. I'm sure I would miss things that I watch only occasionally, like The History Channel or Bravo, that I wouldn't want to pay for. And I'm sure without packaging channels together, cable companies would find some way to make it cost just as much, if not more. Also, all people wouldn't want to pick every single channel, and cable companies would sell them in packages anyway, just with less to offer.

Sunday Night TV

The West Wing isn't what it once was, and I recognize the ongoing campaign (especially done a year early) is a pretty transparent attempt to increase ratings. And I think they are doing pretty well with it, in any case. But whoever decided last night to focus an entire episode on the wedding of a character that no one cares about was ridiculous. Having said that, the show wasn't that bad, but I just don't understand the need to have a "wedding event" in the first place unless it's for someone meaningful to the story. It just seemed awfully forced. And I would like to see a little more coverage of the Vinnick campaign as well. I like Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda, but I'm rooting for Santos, because Vinnick's character just doesn't seem the slightest bit realistic. An atheist pro-choice Republican may exist, but he's not running for President, much less winning the nomination, much less leading the race. Either way, watching the show always makes me sad because all the characters are better choices than what we have in real life (even Bingo Bob).

I'm still pissed that they have the Survivor finale on Sunday when the show airs all season on Thursday, and I may have started boycotting it for that reason, as I might have mentioned last year sometime, but now that I have my DVR, it doesn't bother me too much anymore. Anyway, it's always interesting to see how those people look in real life on the finale after getting used to how they look living in the jungle for all that time. I think Stephanie might be the first person who actually looked worse after cleaning up. Anyway, it was an ok show, I guess, Danni looked like she could have balanced on that board for weeks. Rafe actually looked fairly comfortable too, if he had paid attention to what he was doing. I didn't think Stephanie would do well in an endurance competition after how quickly she jumped off last year for a slice of pizza. I think Survivor does a good job of changing the rules (even if it doesn't always make it better) to make sure the show isn't predictable. it will be interesting to see how they implement that Exile Island next year.

Broadcasters Piss Me Off

Everytime that someone is driving for a game winning field goal, there's always at least one announcer who can't stand not to say that they should kick the field goal on third down "just in case something goes wrong, like a bad snap, you'll still have another down" and you can just about hear in their voice how they just creamed themselves for making a point that is made everytime this situation comes up and addresses a situation so rare as to not warrant talking about even if they are correct (which they aren't). What is more likely to happen than a bad snap or problem with the hold is that the kicker will miss the kick, and therefore every oppurtunity should be used to get the ball as close as possible and in the best position on the field to make sure this doesn't happen. So, for once in this segment, I'll give kudos to a broadcaster, Joe Thiesman (of greatest injury in NFL history fame), for taking the other side in this argument when idiot Paul McGuire busted out this lame tired pointless line of reasoning last night in overtime.

There was something else I saw yesterday that really pissed me off, but I can;t remember it now, so if I can think of it, I'll do another one of these later.

The Perfect Season

Now that the Colts have clinched home-field in the playoffs with 3 games left, I hope they don't let up. I understand that the goal is to win a ring, but the two are not mutually exclusive. If Dungy rests some of his stars over the next few games, what is he really accomplishing? History shows that teams that rest their players in the last game or two of the regular season don't do any better or worse than teams that had to fight to the last game. So all you're really talking about is the chance for a season-ending injury. And who are we talking about really? How many of these players will get rested? Do you think any of the defense will get to take games off, or the offensive line? No, it's really Manning, James and Harrison. Manning is the key and he's been one of the sturdiest players in the league over the last 8 years.

But forget all that anyway, because what's important is this - the Colts have the best shot at the undefeated season since the 85 Bears. What the naysayers don't seem to understand is that the undefeated season isn't just "a line in a record book" as you hear so many say, it's a step above the Super Bowl championship. It's like the perfect game to the no-hitter, the no-hitter is great but the perfect game gets you lasting fame. Does anyone honestly think that we'd be talking about the 72 Dolphins today if they hadn't gone 17-0? Full-page spreads, photo-shoots, champagne bottles popping? Do we talk about the 73 Dolphins, who also won a Super Bowl, or the 71 Cowboys? The players from those teams have their rings, but their championships are just two more among all the rest. Even casual fans know about the 72 Dolphins, for one reason - their perfect season.

Critics Aren't Keeping Quiet Over 'Silent Night' Lyrics Change

First of all I don't see any reason to change the words to a Christmas song. If you don't want to have people singing Christmas songs, then just sing something else instead. Or sing Frosty the Snowman, or Rudolph or somethign non-religous. However, if religous groups are upset about the changing of the words because it may "secularize Christmas", then they need to join us in reality where Christmas is already just as secular as it is religous.

Then of course as you read more of the article it appears the whole thing is just a big misunderstanding anyway. Oh well, any reason for crazy religous people to spend what should be a nice holiday season instead bitching about how everyone is persecuting them is always good.

House Votes to Extend $56 Billion in Tax Cuts for 5 Years

Oh good. Now that the government is spending less then ever before, they can give us back our money. What's that you say? They're spending more than ever before? Well, at least I'll be getting some money back, right? Oh, it's for rich people? Well I'm sure they need the money more than our government does, it's not like we have a war to fight or anything.

Maybe the bright side will be, if the government runs out of money, we can get back to that small government that Republicans pretend to want so badly, and they can stop worrying about who marries who, what women do with their own bodies, personal end of life decisions, what I watch on TV, what video games my kids play (oops, I guess that was Bizarro-Centrist Hillary, but I'm sure Republicans agreed with it), or what I check out at the library. Or they could just cut education, healthcare, and welfare instead.

Random stuff from my music collection

In tribute to the Chemist's Random iPoddery ^TM and just to show everyone how uncool I really am, I present 10 random songs from my collection at work.

1. Hello - Evanescence
Probably the coolest, most current band I have in my library, and this album is what 3, 4 years old now?
2. Bard Dance - Enya
3. The Longships - Enya
4. Shout - Tears for Fears
5. Heart - from Damn Yankees
6. How Many Tears - from Martin Guerre
Martin Guerre is by the team that created Les Miserables(best musical ever) and Miss Saigon
7. Luke and Leia Theme from RETURN OF THE JEDI - John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra
8. West Wing (instrumental) - from the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack
9. Donna - from Hair OBC
10. Live With Somebody You Love - from Martin Guerre

There you have it, a weird (eclectic?) mix of rock, 80's pop, new age, show tunes and instrumentals.

CNN.com - Ann Coulter to audience: You're stupider than I am

I don't generally read stuff about Coulter as I think she's beneath my notice, but this was interesting. What got me was the irony of this quote -

UConn junior Kareem Mohni, 20, said he was disgusted by his peers' reaction to Coulter.

"It really appalled me that we're not able to come together as a group and listen to a different view in a respectful environment," Mohni said.

Respectful environment? She called her entire audience stupid! Amazing.

CNN.com - Alpizar shot by Air Marshals

This is a sad story. On the surface, this situation sounds different than the London Underground shooting. If he did announce that he had a bomb and then approached the marshals, it's hard to argue that they shouldn't have shot him. But there are conflicting accounts.

Either way, it sounds like the real tragedy is Alpizar's bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder has been featured enough on TV over the last several years that I think most people are aware what a devastating illness it can be. It's really sad that this was the end result.

My mom's sister is mentally ill. Mom thinks she's bipolar with psychotic features, but she's not sure since we've never been able to get her in for treatment long enough to confirm a diagnosis. Talking to her and reading letters she writes you can tell that her mind isn't working correctly. We're just lucky that she hasn't been in a situation where she's considered a danger to others. Too bad we can't say the same for Alpizar.

Bush Speaks

I was just listening to the excerpts from his speech today on NPR and it just struck me what a terrible speaker he is. It's very clear that he has no hand in writing these speeches. He speaks in batches of words that obviously coincide with whatever's on the teleprompter or cue cards. His inflection is off, and since he doesn't know what's coming, sometimes you hear him correct his pitch and pronunciation because the sentence didn't go the way he thought it would. I knew he wasn't very good at public speaking, but I guess I hadn't really thought about how bad he is.

It really makes me sad for the missed opportunity we had in 2000.

Happy Holidays vs Merry Christmas

Where the hell did all this come from? I'm nearly 35 years old, and I've been hearing the phrase Happy Holidays all my life. I don't ever remember hearing people complain about this phrase until this year. Yes, I've heard them complain about the secularization and commercialization of Christmas, but Happy Holidays? I never even really thought if it as some sort of non-offensive alternative to Merry Christmas. It just makes sense. This is the Holiday season. Starting with Thanksgiving, there are three major American holidays in the space of 5 weeks. (Not to say that I support the idea of calling it a holiday tree. That's just stupid, I'm with John on that one. )

I don't really even see how wishing a Merry Christmas to a non-Christian could be considered offensive. Whatever else it is, Christmas is also a major secular American holiday. I'm an atheist and I go all out on Christmas every year. Hell, I even have a little nativity scene in my house because it's just part of Christmas. I can listen to O, Holy Night without feeling like I'm being preached to.

And that brings me to my main point, which is that Christmas is not owned by the Christians. It's a multi-faceted holiday. My secular celebration of Christmas in no way takes away from their religious celebration. Not to mention that most of them are celebrating in a secular way as well. Santa Claus, Christmas trees and Frosty the snowman aren't exactly religious icons. So I say to them - Quit your bitching and just enjoy the damn holiday.

The Seattle Times: Politics: Spokane dumps its mayor

The only thing that has bothered me about some of this coverage is that some of it comes across as if West did something wrong by being gay. Although obvious, I think it's important to note that his problem isn't that he's gay, or that he meets people online, but that he's a hypocrite. It's very important to call out all these public figures with double-standards, if we ever hope to stop these idiots from legislating morality. In any case, good for Spokane.

Partial face transplant raises ethical concerns

I really don't get all the hand-wringing about this. Yes, I understand that having a significantly altered appearance could be somewhat unsettling, at least in the beginning. But how are there ethical concerns when your choices are a)refusing the surgery and living life with a severely disfigured face or b)attempting the transplant knowing about the associated risks and rejection possibilities? Who wouldn't choose b? Maybe she should have consulted with a professional ethicist before deciding? I think a lot of this is just people liking to hear themselves talk. Take this quote -

Dr Daniel Sokol, of Imperial College in London, raised the problem of consent. "Ethically, the main issue is that of informed consent: Did the patient give adequately informed consent to the procedure? Did she understand the risks and implications of the transplant," he asked, adding there is no reason to suggest she did not.

He says right out that there's no reason to suggest she didn't know the risks, so why bring it up? You could say the same thing about many kinds of surgery.

I'm surprised there haven't been any references to Face/Off yet, in all this coverage.

Rendition not foolproof

So if we're not sending people off to be tortured how is rendition a vital tool in the war on terror? Is it just that these other countries don't have bothersome things like the Supreme Court or the constitution holding them back? If these people being rendered are legitimate suspects in any kind of criminal/terrorist activity, they should be handled through proper procedures, not secretly flown off to Jordan. I don't understand how this administration can defend practices like rendition, secret prisons and indefinite detention, and then talk about exporting freedom at the same time.

By the way, I'm Chris, John's brother. He mentioned me in a post a couple of weeks ago. He took the words right out of my mouth about me being the smart one, but he forgot to mention I'm also the good-looking brother, ahem. And now Sumo and I can have rousing discussions on this blog about Harry Potter, at least until John revokes my posting privileges.

Woman Testifies of Torture by Saddam's Men

In a sane and reasonable world, I would be worried about hearing about things like this because war supporters would use it to point out how terrible Saddam was (which he obviously was) and as an excuse for why he had to be removed from power. However, most war supporters won't be able to do that since they've come out in favor of torture, themselves. I guess the difference is supposed to be that we only torture the bad guys. Who wants to bet that even an evil man like Saddam uses the same rationalization? Congratulations to the Administration for being able to neutralize the one legitimate reason they had for this war in the first place, that Saddam did terrible things. But who am I kidding, they'll still use it anyway.

Wingnut: Saddam was terrible, he tortured people.
Me: Yeah, he was a real asshole, but don't we torture people, too?
Wingnut: Of course not. And even if we did, they deserve it anyway.
Me: So we don't make people strip naked and hook electrodes up to them or anything like that?
Wingnut: Sure, but that's all legal.
Me: But what Saddam did isn't?
Wingnut: Of course not!
Me: But aren't they pretty much the same things?
Wingnut: No, we just humiliate them, we don't really hurt anyone, and anyway, we only do it to the terrorists.
Me: So it's ok for us to make up our own rules, but not ok for Saddam?
Wingnut: Right!
Me: Why?
Wingnut: Because he's bad.
Me: Wake me up when logic and reason become popular again.

Drone said to have killed Al Qaeda's No. 3

What, again? Look, if we've gotten so good at killing the number three guy that we get them as soon as they're replaced, maybe we should move up to trying for the number one or two guy. I think if I was a terrorist and Osama approached me and offered me this position, I might have to turn it down.

Broadcasters Piss Me Off - Cameramen/Director's Edition

When it's cold outside, men taking a break from playing football will have steam coming off the tops of their heads, and this will be particularly easy to see on bald men. This is just something that happens when it is cold, like being able to see your breath. I'm sure there's some scientific explanation for why this happens, but it's irrelevant. So why camermen feel the need to focus on this phenomenon at every single football game ever, and why directors always decide to put the shot on my TV is beyond me. Even if it was once clever or interesting (and it definitely wasn't), it is now very old and tired, please stop.

Swindlers Take $6,000 From Victim

The article calls these people swindlers, but if someone is able to convince someone to willingly give them money (especially in such a large amount) with such a bullshit story, I say they deserve the money more than the "victim." Taking advantage of people's stupidity should not be a crime.

Illinois Pharmacists Balk at Contraception

Good. You fucking lunatics. This is exactly what should happen when people refuse to do the job they are paid to do. I haven't said much about this whole phamacist debate, even though it really irritates the fucking shit out of me, only because it is so incredibly fucking simple. If you have moral objections to dispensing legal medications to patients with a valid prescription, then pharmacy is not the line of work for you. That's it, there really doesn't need to be any debate about it. If you believe that strongly in something, then it should definitely factor into your career choice.

Garbagemen Suck

I'm sure being a garbage man is pretty hard work and is a pretty lousy job, but I wonder why they're given special license to destroy people's property for no reason. Now, I'm not particularly attached to my garbage can, and I know it wasn't all that durable in the first place, but it's still mine, and I paid for it, and it wouldn't be acceptable for anyone to treat anything else I own the way the garbagemen treat my garbage can. It now has one wheel and no handle and has to be lugged down to the street by sheer force, then propped up just right on the curb so it does not fall over. I suppose I could just get a new one, but they aren't exactly cheap, and the same thing would happen to it. I'm not saying that they should put the lid back on and carry it nicely over and set it down where they got it from, but is it too much to ask that they don't sling it across the street from the back of a moving truck?

I guess I should be happy that recently it has actually ended up in front of my yard instead of someone else's. Which was not the case for my other garbage can that mysteriously disappeared one day. Or the one that mysteriously appeared in my yard one day (which I left there for two weeks so the rightful owner could claim it, but finally just used it myself to replace the one I had lost), which just as mysterously disappeared a year or so later.

Would we stand for it if the mailman, after delivering our mail, took out a bat and took a few swings at the mailbox? Probably not, so why is it ok for the garbagemen to be so careless with our garbage cans?

FOX Sucks

I read somewhere the other day that FOX has cancelled Reunion. Now, this isn't surprising, the show isn't that great and the ratings apparently suck. However, I've been watching it anyway, simply because it was a unique idea and I was interested to see something different. In case you haven't heard about it, it follows 6 friends through 20 years from high school to the present, with each show detailing a year in their lives. The interesting part is, in the present, one of them has been murdered, and possibly one of the others was the murderer. Anyway, like I said, it's not that great, and I'm not one to get too upset over shows being cancelled, but this one bothers me because from what I've read so far, it looks like they aren;t even going to finish the season, which means we won't find out who the murderer is, or what led up to the murder. The reason I think this sucks is that they're basically saying "fuck you" to all the people who have invested time in this show so far.

Now, you could say that about any show that gets cancelled, and they can't keep every show on the air just because they might piss off a few people by cancelling it. But the reason I think this kind of show is different is that the main draw of the series is the ongoing developing story, not the story in the individual episodes, like in CSI or Law and Order or a more conventional show. I think when you put a show like this on the air (and hype it the way FOX did), then you should make a commitment to your viewers to at least complete the story in some fashion, and in this case that means a full season. If FOX wasn't comfortable with making that commitment, they shouldn't have put it on the air. And not just because of the (apparently few) viewers they may piss off with this particular show. But because next year, if they do a show that has a ongoing plot, no matter how good it is, anyone who was screwed over this time will be less likely to watch it. I know I was excited to watch Prison Break this season (and it's pretty good), but if it hadn't started yet, I certainly wouldn't start watching now. Because I'm not going to commit my time to a show that isn't going to commit to giving me the full story promised.

And this doesn't even take into account that FOX seems to have a quick hook for some shows in the first place. They wouldn't have had to bring Family Guy back, if they had never gotten rid of it in the first place. If FOX keeps this shit up, when the Simpsons run finally ends, the entire network may come crashing down like a house of cards.

And while I'm on the subject, I've heard rumors that Rome may not be coming back to HBO. And to the people at HBO, I would say, The Sopranos (if it ever actually returns) has to be near the end, Six Feet Under is over, you cancelled Carnivale. Deadwood is a great, great show, but it can't carry your network alone, and if you have to go back to showing movies all the time, you're in trouble. The only reason I (and I would guess a lot of others) still subscribe is because of the great original shows. Last year, I would have watched anything you put on the air, and I probably still would, but if you keep cancelling the good shows prematurely, that won't be true for much longer. Your next show may be the greatest show in the history of television, but if no one watches it because they're afraid you'll cancel after one season, then it doesn't do you any good.

Sen. Specter Defends Terrell Owens

So, now that Congress has solved baseball's steroid problem, and since there isn't anything else going on in the world that demands their attention, maybe they can resolve this whole TO mess.

I don't think I've mentioned my opinion of the TO situation here before, but here it is. Owens is a dick, he has no one to blame but himself for the position that he's in. Having said that, both the league and the Eagles probably could have handled the situation better and maybe the whole mess could have been avoided. Maybe not. But it is sad to me that a guy like TO who plays hard and is one of the best players in the league can't play because he's a dck, but a guy like Leonard Little, who killed someone can play. But then I guess killing someone isn't as disruptive to the team as criticizing the quarterback or fighting with the team ambassador (and what the fuck is a team ambassador, anyway? Doesn't that just mean washed up player who can't quite give it up?). Anyway, regardless of where anyone puts the blame in the whole mess, one thing we really should be able to agree on is that Congress should stay the fuck out of it. But then, I guess investigating the NFL for fucking things up is easier than investigating the President for fucking things up, and our government is all about doing whatever is easiest.

Is Carnivale coming back?

So apparently HBO wants to do a movie to wrap it up, but the producers don't think that would be fair to the story or something. I'm all for seeing as much of Carnivale as possible, whether it's the show or a movie, but here's some advice to HBO. Anyone who will watch this movie would watch the show, so just bring the show back, dumbasses. If you don't think anyone wants to watch it, then why would you want to do a movie? Sometimes I think TV executives just aren't very bright.

People annoy me

I'm always meaning to catalog all the stupid little shit people do that irritates me, but there's just so much of it that I never get around to it, so maybe instead I'll just post these things individually as they come up.

Which leads me to this one. I hate it when people say "Turkey Day" instead of Thanksgiving. Why do people do that? It's annoying. Someone just left for the day and said it, but I was able to restrain myself from rolling my eyes. It's not quite as bad as the people next month who will leave on New Year's Eve saying, "see you next year" but it's still annoying.

Happy Birthday to Me

Feel free to send gifts. I could really use one of these.

Oh, and I've discovered that I can still post, but just can't read or comment from work, although I still don't have much time. So, I've asked my brother (you may have seen his comments around here) to contribute to the blog as well, so there will be more around to read here. He's not as funny as me, but he's the smart one (not that I'm not smart, obviously), and is probably a little more well-rounded (he likes all that Harry Potter crap and a lot of lousy music), but he doesn't know the numbers of people on his favorite football teams, which is ridiculous. Anyway, I suppose he'll post something sooner or later (or maybe he already has, I wouldn't know, since I can't read it), so be sure to welcome him.

No 'holiday' tree for this grower

I'm all for pissing off religous fundamentalists and Bill O'Reilly, but I don't see any reason to rename a Christmas tree a Holiday Tree. A Christmas tree is a symbol of Christmas, not any other holidays, so to rename it just in some pointelss gesture of political correctness is silly. I don't know how anyone would be offended by a Christmas tree. I'm not the slightest bit religous, and it doesn't bother me, we have one every year. The tree is about the decorations, and the presents, and seems to me to be about the most secular symbol of the holiday after Santa Claus. I can understand why people may say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" in order to avoid offending someone (although, I think if you're offended by someone wishing you a Merry Christmas, than you're probably just looking for things to be offended by), but calling a Christmas tree a holiday tree is just silly. Everyone knows it's for Christmas, and I'm not sure why anyone would be offended by that.

Broadcasters piss me off - And players too edition

Has there ever been a broadcaster or player who referenced whichever game they play without preceeding it with "the game of...?" I know they have airtime to fill, but do those three words really add so much that they can never leave them out?

Here I Am

Not that anyone noticed, but I haven't posted anything in a while. Mostly because I have a new position at work and just don't have much time to post, and it appears that they have started blocking blogs anyway, so even if I did have time to post, I couldn't. I still read everyone's occasionally when I have a minute through RSS feeds, but I can't comment.

I would also probably post more from home, but my computer is broken, and now it looks like the assholes are trying to say it is out of warranty, but I'm not sure since I was in the middle of reading the email when Yahoo Mail decided to fuck up. Anyway, if and when I'm able to get my computer fixed, I'll probably post more often, but until then, it will probably be rare, if anyone cares. Maybe this blog will die a slow miserable death, but I hope not. Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know, in case anyone missed me.

Rice, in Iraq, Says Strategy Against Rebels Is Working

And of course she is right. Unfortunately, in order to be right, she had to apply the new Republican-approved, Kansas redefinition principle to the word 'working', which basically says that if you want something bad enough, or believe in it hard enough, then it becomes true.

Alito denies conflict in '02 Vanguard case

Hmmm, so Alito, who is set to become a Supreme Court Justice, pretty clearly lied to Congress, albeit about something pretty minor, and no one really seems to care very much, except for people who are looking for reasons to oppose him. But Rafael Palmeiro most likely lied to Congress, and they have to start a ridiculous perjury investigation that common sense would tell anyone couldn't go anywhere, even if it was Congress' business in the first place, which it isn't. Hey, dickheads, maybe he wouldn't have lied to you if you hadn't been holding hearings on it in the first place (not that that makes it ok, just that we could have avoided the whole useless circus). What exactly did those hearings accomplish, again? Get your fucking priorities straight (and I love baseball). Assholes.

Senate Approves Limiting Rights of U.S. Detainees

Disgusting. How completely Un-American does it seem to detain people without even having to explain why? I guess if people are allowed to challenge their detentions, we might find out that they're not all terrorists, and then maybe we would lose the stomach to support torturing them. This is also a convenient way for the Senators who actually were smart enough to vote against torture to still go along with their pro-torture party and administration by keeping it hidden. Assholes.

Bush to take on critics of his case for Iraq war

President Bush will respond Friday to accusations that his administration manipulated intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to justify the war, a senior administration official said.

In other words, he's going to ask people to believe what he tells them instead of what the evidence tells them. Why not? It's worked for him before, even got him re-elected. Takes a lot of balls, though. Asshole.

Frist concerned more about leaks than secret prisons

Frist told reporters Thursday that while he believed illegal activity should not take place at detention centers, he believes the leak itself poses a greater threat to national security and is "not concerned about what goes on" behind the prison walls.

Wow, it's hard for me to believe that there are people in positions of such great power in our country that are so mind-numbingly stupid as to not be able to recognize that the threat to national security they are worried about because of this leak would not be an issue if there had never been anything to leak in the first place. And if there was nothing wrong going on in these places, there would be no reason for them to be secret in the first place. Perhaps if Frist did concern himself about what goes on behind the prison walls, he could help clean it up, and thereby not only eliminate whatever threat their existence caused, but also create some goodwill about the whole issue for a change. Getting in such an uproar over the secret getting out, and not being concerned at all about what is going on in the first place just leads people to believe that there is something you want to keep hidden, even if there is actually nothing wrong going on at these places. Assholes.

Broadcasters Piss Me Off - Marv Albert Edition

I...can't...stand...listening...to...this...sexual...deviant. He pauses for months between every word, especially when saying someone's name. I swear he said Michael once back in 1998, and still hasn't gotten around to saying Jordan yet. Then he says little annoying things that don't mean anything like "...with the step." Him being exposed as a freak was the perfect oppurtunity to rid the world of these annoying things, but of course in sports (and apparently even sports broadcasting), there are never any consequences to your actions. Maybe NBC should give OJ his job back.

Also, there's another annoying thing Marv Albert does that is not exclusive to him. Whenever talking about the time on the game clock vs. the shot clock, or the height of one player vs. another, or the play clock and the game clock, broadcasters always use the word differential. "There's a two second differential between the shot clock and the game clock." What's wrong with the word difference? It says exactly the same thing, and doesn't make you sound like an annoying douchebag who thinks he's in a Calculus class.

Wednesday TV - Invasion Sucks

So, with all the hype around Invasion before it started, I was hoping it would be another pretty good show to watch, but after missing the last episode, and apparently missing absolutely nothing of value to the plot, then watching that peice of crap episode last night, I'm about ready to give up on it. I was disappointed right off the bat with all the characters being part of this big extended family, and all being pretty lame as well, but now after watching the show for several weeks, I realize the characters aren't the only thing lacking on this show. The writers do realize there are aliens on this show, don't they? Maybe they could focus less on the dynamics of these annoying people and their fucked up family situation, and more on what the fuck is going on with the aliens. Why do we have plots about how teens handle divorce, and infected monkeys, or car accidents (more than once) when there are these aliens swimming around? Also, the main character who is supposed to look like a nice, reasonable, smart guy keeps dismissing all his brother-in-law's creepy theories, which in any normal case, would be the right thing to do, but after seeing what he's seen so far on this show, he should be a bit more open minded about what's going on. The fact that he isn't just makes him look stupid. Then last night, in that lousy episode, the woman gets in an accident, is stuck by her seatbelt, so can't reach the radio to call for help, then when she does get out, apparently, she completley forgets the radio and wanders off instead, unbelievable and just all around stupid. Then, they have stupid little annoying things like the kid going out to put gas in the generator (gas from where exactly? It's been two weeks, if they have no power, how are they getting gas for all this running around and generator breakfast making they do?), but he pours the gas from one gas can into another before pouring it into the generator (why?), not to mention that he only pours for about a second, which wouldn't have given him much gas. This wouldn't have bothered me much normally, but I'm already so annoyed with this show that I notice these things. I don't know if I'll watch this show anymore. The only reason I still am at this point is because I hate to give up on a show too early.

LOST, of course was much better, not a lot really happened on this episode until right at the end. With all the pre-show hype around killing someone off, I give them credit for not just getting rid of one of the new people, which is what shows normally do in these cases. And the way they did it opened up a lot of doors for plot development and conflict going forward. Next week looks pretty good as we get to see what happened to the tail section from the beginning.

Speaking of pre-show hype, Martha Stewart's Apprentice made it look like that idiot Jim was going to do something outrageous this week, but it turned out to be a big smoke screen, which is annoying because it was about his most normal week so far. If you're going to use those kinds of teaser promos, you really need to deliver or it just pisses people off. This one is nowhere near as good as the original. Speaking of that one, Randal is apparently married to the cousin of a friend of mine here at work, so I'm rooting for him to win. He's doing pretty well anyway.

Priest Holmes' Career May Be Over

So, my fantasy team that has TO and Holmes on it is looking much worse these days. Even worse since a couple of weeks ago, someone desperately wanted to trade me for TO, and was going to give me a mediocre WR and a decent RB in the deal. Oh well, at least it's not a league for money.

Reading

I finished The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (review), and it was pretty much what I remembered from reading it as a kid. It did read like a kid's book and was pretty short, and that may have bothered me if I didn't have such great memories of reading it as a kid. But since I did, it didn't matter much to me. I'll now move on to the next book in the series, Prince Caspian. Again, if you're reading these books for the first time, make sure to read them in the order they were published, not the ridiculous chronological order they're being marketed in currently.

So what's everyone else reading? Not that I expect much response, since I just did one of these a couple of days ago.

Democrats in US rack up victories

Good, maybe people aren't as stupid as they've seemed over the last few years. Not that Democrats have been particularly inpressive lately, but it should be pretty clear to everyone that letting Republicans control everything doesn't work worth a fuck.

Frist, Hastert call for congressional leak probe

I almost thought that maybe these guys might actually be doing something right for once. But then I see that it's not about the Plame leak. No, they're mad because someone made it harder to torture people, waaaah. So, if this was classified information, then I support trying to find out who leaked it since I'm against classified information being leaked to the press. It's nice to know that Congress is with me on this, although I'm a bit puzzled since I didn't hear these assholes calling for any investigations in the last leak of classified information. But Nancy Pelosi is all over that hypcritical stance, so I'll leave it alone.

"If Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Frist are finally ready to join Democrats' demands for an investigation of possible abuses of classified information, they must direct the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to investigate all aspects of that issue," said Pelosi.

Somehow, I don't think they'll take her up on that.

This was my favorite part:

"If accurate, such an egregious disclosure could have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences, and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks,"

Yes, idiots it's the disclosure that hurts, not the fact that we torture people in the first place. Way to get to the root of the problem. Assholes.

Horse Stabbed At Gas Station

Only in Jacksonville can they make even the victim look like a freak. I guess I should be happy that the horse wasn't stabbed with a sword, or at least not as far as I know. Ahhh, I can just feel the civic pride swelling up inside me.

Reading

So, I just finished reading Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling (review). Having read other books by him in the past, I was prepared to be unimpressed, as I'd liked his ideas, but never cared much for the story he builds around them. Going in with those low expectations, this wasn't too bad. Again, he took the story in a way that I thought was less interesting than what I had expected, but he doesn't do to badly with it. The worst part was that he seemed to be reaching for a world where his geeky fantasy interests would become valuable skills, and you can almost see him jacking off as he writes it, fantasizing about becoming King in a world thrown back into the dark ages. Anyway, the story was ok, and if you liked other stuff he's written, you might like this too. The most interesting thing about the story, to me, wasn't even mentioned in the book, but was something I read in one of the reviews, so I don't know if it is true or not, but it said that the world in this book is the world left behind when Nantucket disappears in Island in the Sea of Time. This looks to be the beginning of a series, so if that is the case, I assume it will be revealed at some point.

Anyway, having looked at the library for something else interesting to read next, and not finding anything, I decided instead to re-read The Chroncles of Narnia, in anticipation of the movie coming out. I read these several times as a kid, and thought they were great. I managed to mostly miss all the religous stuff woven into them back then, except in The Last Battle, where it's impossible to overlook, but I hope that doesn't take away from the great stories I remember. I'll be starting with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe even though some idiot somewhere decided to start marketing these books in chronological order, making this book the second in the series. I can't imagine reading them in that order. One of my most vivid memories reading these the first time was finding out five books later, where the lampost came from. Who makes stupid decisions like that, anyway? That would be like watching Star Wars in chronological order, bleh! Anyone else bothered by this?

Anyway, what's everyone reading? Any recommendations? Anything to stay away from? And no Harry Potter, freaks!

Cruise passengers describe horror of pirate attack

Pirates??? Seriously??? What the fuck? Isn't it 2005? First everyone has swords, now ships are getting attacked by pirates. I blame Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Cheney Fights for Detainee Policy

This is disgusting. Why don't people demand that this administration very clearly tell us why it's ok to toture people? Because that's what they want to do, and it's very clear. If they say they aren't in favor of torture, then there is no reason to oppose standards of treatment. If they just don't like the standards being proposed, then they could recommend something better, but they don't because they don't want standards, they want to be able to do whatever they want to do. It's barbaric. And if you're thinking that these people deserve it because they would do worse to us, and because they are just terrorists anyway, I would say to remember that since we are somehow allowed to hold people without trial, charges, or even without telling anyone that they're being held, then it is possible that they're not all terrorists, and that some are completely innocent of anything other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also, no matter what they may do, we are supposed to be the good guys, and I will never support lowering our standards just because the other guy may be worse.

The right wing smear machine has done a good job of making it seem like anyone against torture is supporting terrorists, and that we're not really talking about torture anyway, but humiliation and discomfort, but any objective look at the evidence shows that that just isn't the case. So, if these people are so in favor of torture, we need to demand that they openly take that position, and tell us why they think it's ok.

Fiery riots spread beyond Paris

Eight straight nights of rioting? What the hell is wrong with French people? I always thought riots died out after a few hours. Anyway, if it's mostly Muslims upset about being discriminated against, at least maybe we've found a reason for conservatives to like the French again.

Bush backs human rights; protesters call him 'fascist'

I'm glad to hear Bush is in favor of human rights. So I guess all that torture stuff is just a big misunderstanding, then. Or more likely, he's in favor of telling other people how to handle human rights, which of course we now have no business doing thanks to him. Asshole.

Senate Democrats force closed-door session

Livid Republicans decried the Democrats' move as nothing more than "a stunt."

Who gives a fuck if it is a stunt? The point is, you idiots aren't doing your jobs. Support the war or not, but there's no question that we were misled, at best, going into it, and that it is not going well, and that we don't have any plan. So what the fuck is wrong with talking about these things? It's sad when they talk more about this on Boston Legal than they do in Congress. If it takes a stunt to get you morons talking about the war, then I'm all for it. Assholes.

In the Trenches of the War on Meth

There's a War on Meth? I had no idea. Seems like a bad idea to me, though. One thing that we really don't seem to do well in this country is fight wars on things. The War on Drugs, The War on Poverty, The War on Terror, all pretty ridiculous failures. I propose we start declaring war on good things. Like, The War on Freedom, The War on Democracy, The War on Education, The War on Healthcare. That way, they can all fail spectacularly, only in these cases, we'll all be better off for it.

Judge Alito well liked in his neighborhood and where he works

Who gives a fuck? A lot of people like me, too, but I'm not qualified to be a Supreme Court justice. I don't care if his neighbors and coworkers all universally think he's an asshole, as long as he can actually do the job correctly.

Spousal Notification

I get a little irritated every time there's any talk about the Supreme Court, all we ever here about is abortion, abortion, abortion. As important an issue as I think this is, I think we all do ourselves a disservice by focusing on one issue to the exclusion of everything else. Since I assume that the vast majority of cases that the Supreme Court is involved in have absolutely nothing to do with abortion. I say I assume, because I wouldn't know, since there's hardly ever any mention of what the Supreme Court actually does do in the news. Anyway, having said that, a lot of the early stuff I hear about Alito is about his position on some spousal notification law.

Now, I don't really know the particulars to know exactly what his position on it means, or anything, but what interests me is how something like this even comes up. First of all, let me say that if my wife was going to have an abortion, I'd really like to know about it, however, I'd like her to tell me about it without the government forcing her to. And if she would hide that from me in the first place, then we have more problems than a notification would help.

But anyway, what good do people think this will do? First of all, how do you know if the woman is even married? Even crazy religous extremists would have to admit that it is possible to get pregnant without being married. So, now we would have doctors prying into something that is none of their business. Also, why would a spouse be entitled to notification but a boyfriend wouldn't? If it's important for the father to know what is going on (and I think it is, in an ideal situation, unfortunately, by the time someone wants an abortion, they're likely not in an ideal situation), then it's important whether or not he is married to the mother. And if the woman is married, who is to say that the baby is the husband's? That might be a reason why the woman would want an abortion in the first place. So, in that case, you either notify a man who isn't the father (which would seem to miss the point of the law in the first place, and seems to infrige incredibly on the privacy of the woman), or if you don't notify him when he isn't the father, then you just create a big loophole, making the law moot, when the woman can just say the baby isn't her husbands.

Anyway, shit like this is why I'm pro-choice. I don't like abortion, I wish it wasn't so common, but stupid laws like this just don't work in reality, because you can never take every situation into account and still be left with a law that does anything meaningful. It's better to leave these decisions up to the people who have to live with them and who have all the information to make the decision. It's just amazing to me that the biggest issue for the "small government" types is one that puts government right in the middle of an incredibly personal decision.

Did I miss anything?

Ok, so I really didn't plan to be gone so long. I took some vacation days because we were supposed to go out of town for my son's birthday. We didn't end up going anywhere, but I still took the time off. I expected to post from home, but my computer is broken and I didn't feel like using any of the other ones. So anyway, sorry if anyone missed me. And thanks to Fixer for being the one person to actually notice I was gone.

Anyway, apparently some things happened while I was gone, so let's go over as much as I can remember. First, most importantly, It appears I passed 20,000 hits. Normally this would be a pretty nice milestone, but since October was my slowest month in quite some time, I'm not happy about it, and I blame all of you for not visiting enough, since it clearly isn't my fault.

Also, it was my son's third birthday, which meant the first one that he really got excited about, so that was a lot of fun. We took him to the zoo in his little skeleton Halloween costume, which was very cute, after we got him over being scared of it long enough to get it on him. Then he went trick or treating last night for the first time he could actually get interested in it, even though he kept asking where Halloween was, so he didn't completely get the concept, but he did understand that people would give him candy, so he had fun.

Let's see the White Sox won the first World Series in a long time that I had no interest in. I think I might have watched a total of 10 pitches, and that was just by accident. Anyway, congratulations Chicago.

The Cowboys head into their off week with a victory, but nothing to celebrate since they should have beaten Arizona pretty much as bad as they did. Big test in two weeks when they have a rematch against Philly on Monday Night. The Eagles look bad, and they're probably a little pissed about it, so it could be a good game. At least they blew up the Vet, so it won't be played in that shithole.

Let's see, I think there may have been some political news while I was gone also. Oh, that's right...indictment. Well, I probably don't have much to say about it that hasn't already been said, but only in this BizarroWorld we live in would people let this administration that was supposed to restore integrity to the White House celebrate the fact that only one of their staff was indicted. Congratulations, assholes.

Oh, and the smoke screen to push the indictment story off the fron page was of course the "withdrawal" of Harriet Miers, and the nomination of that fucknut, Scalia Jr. or whatever the hell is name is. Well, I'd like to say that I'm happy that someone as ridiculously unqualified as Miers won't be on the Supreme Court, and despite the objections of the crazy religous right, I don't think she would have been any less fucknutty than the new guy, but I don't think they really had any intention of putting her on the court anyway. They just wanted some big story to cover for their scandal. Again, congratulations assholes. Oh, and good job being able to say with a straight face how important it is for the new guy to get a vote after your crazy wingnut supporters ran off the last one without even getting to the hearings.

I'm sure some other stuff happened, but I was on vacation, so I wasn't paying any attention to it.

White House to Onion: Stop using seal - Oct 26, 2005

I'm pretty sure I've seen the presidential seal on unofficial things before. But I'm not surprised that the first President to whine about it is the current idiot.

"I would advise them to look for that other guy Osama (bin Laden) ... rather than comedians. I don't think we pose much of a threat," [Scott ] Dikkers[editor-in-chief of the satirical newspaper] said.

Yeah, that might be a good idea. Of course that's a lot harder, and we know the President only likes to talk about doing hard work.

Man fined $300 for impersonating Roethlisberger

What the fuck? I will never undestand why it's against the law to take advantage of someone else's stupidity. Especially in a situation as harmless as this one.

Wal-Mart to open 270 to 280 supercenters next year

Oh good, because if there is one thing that I'm always complaining about, it's that there is never a Wal-Mart around when I need one.

Bush refuses to hand over Miers documents / Nominee's chances for confirmation appear in jeopardy

This is strange. Apparently, both Democrats and Republicans are requesting documents to try and figure out where Harriet Miers stands on things. It's weird because when Democrats were requesting documents on Roberts, all I heard from Republicans and their supporters was that it was a partisan move just to delay the confirmation. But apparently, when Republicans want documents, there must be some higher moral purpose. I wonder how these hypocrites justify this kind of thing to their supporters. Oh, that's right, they don't have to, since they have all the with us or against us blind loyalty supporters on their side. Well, that must make things easier.

So that's how a real President would do it...

So, once again I find myself watching The West Wing to see how a real President acts. Firing someone who is close to him for leaking classified information without any hesitation even though the person leaked that information with good intentions.

Quite a contrast to the real world where the leak is done purely for partisan political revenge, and not only are the people involved not fired, but the President hems and haws and qualifies earlier statements that made it sound like he would be tough on people involved in the leak, and now is "waiting for the results of the ongoing investigation" which I think will change once again when the investigation is concluded and the indictments come. Then it will be wating for the results of the prosecution. Then if anyone is convcted, he will finally take decisive action...to pardon them. The only reason for a President to handle it this way if he supports what was done, whether he knew about it beforehand or not.

Dear Bill Parcells -

I know you're kind of stubborn, but I thought when you took my advice previously, we had figured out what the strengths and weaknesses of your team were, and decided that you should play agressively and try to win games before they get to the final minutes. You have now lost two games to teams that were dominated by your defense for around 55 minutes. If you expect to be able to win these kind of games by now, then you're just fooling yourself. The defense also gave up a late game tying touchdown last week that could have lost the game. But I guess since you squeaked out of that one with the win, you didn't learn anything. Anyway, to play the kind of game you want to play, you need a few things. First, you need a defense that will play the same way in the final minutes as they play in the rest of the game. You clearly don't have that. Second, you need a good kicking game. But your punter is mediocre, and the long snapper and kicker suck so bad that if I were coaching yesterday, I would have told them to find their own way home. Finally, you need a running game that can run effectively even when everyone knows they're going to run. And despite the fact that you piled up a lot of yards on the ground yesterday, when it came to the drives late in the 3rd and early in the fourth when you almost exclusively ran the ball, they couldn't get a first down. So, since we know all these things, maybe you could take the handcuffs off the offense and throw it down the field a little more often, especially since almost everytime you do, it works out pretty well. A four point lead is nowhere near big enough to sit on. I know you tried to do it late yesterday, but by then it was too late, and the fumble on the flea flicker really cost you, but if you try some of those plays earlier, maybe one little mistake wouldn't be so magnified. Anyway, you fell from first place to last place with that loss, so maybe you will wake up a little bit now and start using the weapons that you have before your team throws in the towel.

ABC News: Warner Bros. Backs Blu-Ray DVD Format

I don't really care what high definition DVD format is backed by who, or which one wins out in the end, it will all sort itself out eventually. However, if it's going to be this one, they need to come out with a better sounding name than Blu-Ray because that's just gay. Don't they have some kind of marketing department that gets paid to come up with catchy names? If so, they need to fire them, because Blu-Ray just sucks.

The Daily Northwestern - Student group faked abduction at University Place ATM, police say

Ok, I know I have at least one Northwestern alum as a reader, so what's going on over there, Ace?

Take Action: FMA Hearings: Tell your Senator to STOP wasting time on the Federal Marriage Amendment

Apparently, having fixed all the ills that plague professional sports, Congress now finds itself with nothing better to do than talk about getting hate and discrimination added to the Constitution. Not only is this just a bad idea in the first place for lots of reasons, but as the link says, it's also a waste of time. Even if you hate gay people, you'd have to be an idiot to think that there aren't a lot more important issues in this country that need the attention of Congress. So click the link and tell your Senators to stop wasting time on trying to figure out how to discriminate against people.

Happy Somethingorother*

A year ago today, I started this blog with this post, which wasn't very interesting, but whatever. At the time I wasn't expecting anyone to read it, and I didn't really know what I was doing it for, I just knew that I had this BlogThis! button on my Google toolbar that I wanted to try out. I figured if I kept posting at all that it would become a more personal kind of journal. What actually happened was that as I read other people's blogs, I realized that I wasn't the only person in the world who didn't worship George Bush, so my frustration with the people who do really become the focus of most of my posts. Also, since it was right before the election, that magnified it for me. And of course after the ridiculous results of that election, my frustration only grew, so it was nice to share my thoughts with people who felt the same way, since at the time, there didn't seem to be enough of us. Not enough to get rid of the idiot, anyway. Now, it seems that things may be turning back towards a more reasonable, less ignorant attitude, and I like to take credit for that.


Anyway, I thought I should post something to commemorate this occasion. Please feel free to send gifts.**

* I refuse to use silly made up words like blogiversary.
** Or cash.

Rice Wants to Follow Afghan Model in Iraq

What, you mean the model where we go in, change a lot of things for the better, only to have them all undone when we all but leave to focus our resources on other operations that make far less sense? Well, there's a few things wrong with that plan. First, we really haven't done much good in Iraq in the first place. Sure we got rid of Saddam, but a lot of other things came down with him, stable, secular government, working infrastructure, women's rights, etc. Second, we've already pretty much made a long term commitment in Iraq, and to largely abandon it the way we did Afghanistan would be all but impossible without making that guy you worship look like a flip-flopper. And finally, even if we could successfully abandon Iraq, we'd be hard pressed to find somewhere else to invade that made any less sense than invading Iraq did. I guess we could invade one of our allies or something, but that would come along with its own set of problems. Also, I think we're fresh out of NFL players who can be sacrificed as heroes. Anyway, I don't think we can really handle Iraq like we did Afghanistan, and if anyone ever paid any attention to Afghanistan anymore, we might find looking back, that that model wasn't really all that successful in the first place.

Potential threat briefly shuts portions of I-95

Hmmmm, I guess this means the indictments are imminent.

Iraq vote counts 'point to fraud'

I've been very critical of Bush and the war in Iraq in the past. But this news makes me see that I was wrong. If the Iraqis are already holding fraudulent elections, then they've already reached a point in their democracy that it took us over 200 years to get to here in America, so good for them.

Rome

So, I've been watching Rome on HBO, and it's pretty good so far. But last night as they found Cleopatra, I realized that Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo are the Forrest Gump of the Ancient World. If there's a historically significant event, they'll be involved somehow, and if there is a person of consequence they will have at least met the person at some point. I fully expect them to be in some way involved in Caesar's assassination, then with Octavian's rise to power.

Defense readies case on intelligent design

These people should have watched The West Wing last night, as Jimmy Smits' character summed the whole debate up pretty well. Which kind of makes me sad, since the fictional President, and both fictional candidates for President are vastly superior to what we have in reality. Hell, at this point, I'd rather have Martin Sheen, Alan Alda, or Jimmy Smits over Bush, nevermind their characters.

Narnia film stirs controversy over Christianity

I'm not sure why there's any controversy over this movie. I'm not the slightest bit religous, and I'm really looking forward to it, because it's a great story. I read all these books several times when I was a kid, and really didn't even notice the religous parallels until the last book, where it was a lot less subtle. Anyway, regardless of how much religion is or isn't in these books, they're entertaining stories which is all I really look for in a book or a movie. I'd only be offended by a story being too religous if it also sucks, like that Left Behind crap.

Friday Name that Movie

Not so good last week. Anyway, here we go again. Keep in mind, when I do these themes, I may repeat a movie or two that has been used before if it fits my theme. Guess them all (and the theme) and you may win a prize.* And be sure to check back tomorrow for Saturday Night Name that Song.**

1. America is the richest, most powerful country on earth. If America was a woman, she would be a big-tittied woman. Everybody loves a big-tittied woman!
2. Well, what if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.
3. If lovin' the lord is wrong, I don't want to be right.
4. I wanna say something. I'm gonna put it out there; if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, send it right back. I want to be on you.
5. You'll be missing me when you have that big white wrinkly body on top of you with his loose skin and old balls... gross!
6. I can get a good look at a T-bone by sticking my head up a bull's ass, but I'd rather take the butcher's word for it.
7. This is good. It's like the Flintstones car wash.
8. You'll be whistling 'Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah' out of you're assholes!
9. He was wearing my Harvard tie. Can you believe it? My Harvard tie. Like oh, sure he went to Harvard.
10. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!


* There is no prize.
** If I feel like it.

Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged

Whaaaaa? Bush staged something? That can't be true...

Seriously, people shouldn't be surprised at this point that Bush used soldiers as props for political gain, what they should be surprised by is that he bothered to use real soldiers at all. Seems like by now, he should have a studio outside the White House and some extras on hand to handle these things. He could have a hurricane set, an Iraq set, and then he wouldn't even really need to go anywhere. Actually, better yet, he could have the studio built at his "ranch" and he could add an Oval office set. Maybe he could also build a George Costanza style area under his desk so he could sleep on the job.

Anyway, I just find it funny that Bush staging things is news. Hasn't this been going on the whole time?

Frigidaire sucks - Part II

Some of my two or three long time readers may remember my original Frigidaire sucks post. Well, anyway, they did manage to fix the refrigerator after about two weeks without one. But of course a couple of weeks ago (or shortly after the warranty expired), it broke again. So we just bought a new one, which sucks, since it was barely two years old, but hopefully this one will last a while. Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know not to buy a Frigidaire. Not because of the product being a lemon, that is going to happen, and could with any brand, I'm sure, but because their service sucks and they don't care about their customers getting what they paid for.

Litmus Test

I'm starting my own litmus test, with all the talk about them relating to Supreme Court nominees. Mine will be, if any reporter, pundit, Congressman, Senator or whatever uses the phrase "litmus test" when talking about confirming a Supreme Court nominee, then I'm just going to assume that they don't know what they fuck they're talking about and don't have anything worthwhile to say on the subject.

Comment Spam

So far, I had only noticed a couple of spam comments on my blog (so I guess the spammers don't realize this is the hottest blog on the internets), so I thought that I wasn't getting any. Then I went to look at an archived post, and realized that it's all over my older posts. So I do have a lot of it, and I guess the spammers aren't too good with dates. Anyway, I'll probably be implementing that word verification stuff soon and wanted to let everyone know why.

Maybe he could write a song about it

I don't listen to country music, and I really don't like any of it, so I hadn't heard anything about this, but I saw it on Jason Mulgew's blog (which by the way is really funny) and thought it was pretty strange.

Bad enough to be in that situation in the first place, even worse to have to update all your fans about it on your website.

Is it time for finger pointing yet?

I'd almost forgotten (as I'm sure was the intention) that all the Bush lovers haven't told us it's time for finger pointing and blame-gaming yet, even though they assured us that there would be plenty of time for that later (as they pointed fingers at every Democrat in Louisiana, and blamed the victims for being too stupid to leave). But my last post reminded me of it, so I'm asking again.

White House Briefing  News on President George W Bush and the Bush Administration

I was reading about Matt Lauer's interview with the village idiot, and one thing in particular struck me:

I do my job as best I can. One of the things that we do is we respond to crisis. And as I told the people, if I didn't respond well enough, we're going to learn the lessons. If there's any mistakes made at the federal level, I, of course, accept responsibility for them. . . .

emphasis mine

How is he still getting away with this "if" bullshit? Shouldn't the next question be, "You always qualify that reponsibility by saying 'if mistakes were made on the federal level', shouldn't you know by now if mistakes were actually made, and why don't you recognize them and take responsibility for them?" I guess people are just still in shock that he said anything is his responsibility, and that he allowed for the possibility that mistakes were made. But as shocking as that is, it should be about time to nail down exactly what mistakes he's made and see if he will be accoutable for them. Of course he won't, but since he actually opened that door for once, someone ought to try to walk through it, and force him to slam it shut so everyone can see it.

NicoShot - Nicotine Beer Designed to Help Drinkers Quit Smoking

Yeah, this is a good idea. Now, instead of being addicted to cigarettes, you can just replace them with beer, which works out well if you're already an alcoholic, but isn't so great otherwise, since you'd probably be a lot more likely to become one when getting your nicotine from the beer.

But it can help you make changes in your lifestyle without having to walk out of the bar for a quick smoke to deal with sudden withdrawal symptoms.

Yes, because the worst problem with smoking is that it takes away from that precious time that could otherwise be spent drinking. Thanks, NicoShot for solving that problem!

Records suggest warm relationship between Bush, Miers

Ok, I think I've figured this nomination out. It looks like Miers was stalking Bush, and he nominated her to the Supreme Court in order to focus her attention on something else. Because, seriously, she's obviously not qualified for the job, and who else but a stalker would write things like this:

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers told George W. Bush in a 1997 birthday card that he was "the best governor ever" and, in a separate note to her boss, said she hoped his twin daughters recognize their parents are "cool."

I'm pretty sure I've never told anyone that I think they're cool. And how old is this woman, anyway? Her pictures make it look like she's about 100, but these letters make it sound like she's closer to 13. Like this:

In 1997, Miers sent Bush a belated birthday card featuring a sad-looking dog and the note: "Dear Governor GWB, You are the best Governor ever -- deserving of great respect!" She added, "At least for thirty days -- you are not younger than me."

emphasis mine
See, I understand kids just think of someone's age as the number itself, and so may equate someone who has just turned 13 to someone who is about to turn 14, but I would think by the time you get to be 52, you might be smart enough to realize that someone who is 11 months younger than you is always 11 months younger than you.

Now, normally, I'm completely in favor of any and all information being released to the public. But now I'm going to propose that any furhter correspondence from our government officials be classified. It's bad enough that I have to see how stupid these people are based on the decisions they make, but seeing their little birthday notes to each other and notes about going to the bathroom is just too much, and I'd just rather pretend they didn't exist.

Dear Bill Parcells -

I wasn't even aware that you read my blog. Nevertheless, I'm glad that you took my advice.

And I hate to say I told you so, but you might want to notice that you only scored 3 points in the 4th quarter, and only 6 in the second half, and you didn't even need those points. The key to this was obviously the 27 points scored in the first half, including 17 in the first quarter. You may also have noticed that yesterday was your best day rushing the ball so far this season, which seemed to be the goal of your previous strategy that failed pretty miserably. That's because it's easier to run with a big lead, and with the defense worried about getting beat deep. No thanks are necessary, just keep up the good work.

Saturday Early (Stuck at work on the Weekend Edition) Name that Song

Here we go again. Guess them all (and the theme) and you could win a prize.*

1. You're all that I ever known, when you smile, on my face, all I see is a glow.
2. You Have To Show Them That You're Really Not Scared
3. Still in dress she used to wear, Faded feathers in her hair
4. I done told you once you son of a bitch I'm the best there's ever been
5. Oh can't you see You belong to me?
6. You'd rather see me in the pen Then me and Lorenzo rollin in the Benzo
7. Back in the day There was this girl around the way
8. No more The crap rolls out your mouth again
9. You can scratch my back, we'll get cozy and huddle I'll lay down my jacket so you can walk over a puddle
10. I got more rhymes than the bible's got psalms



* There is no prize.

Friday Name that Movie

Not so good last week, I think there are still some movies left, and the theme was only almost guessed. Anyway, here we go again. Keep in mind, when I do these themes, I may repeat a movie or two that has been used before if it fits my theme. Guess them all (and the theme) and you may win a prize.* And be sure to check back tomorrow for Saturday Night Name that Song.**

1. Stanley?
Yeah, you know...like the power drill.
2. Disturbing the peace? I got thrown out of a window! What's the fuckin' charge for getting pushed out of a moving car, huh? Jaywalking?
3. Yeah, why don't you just go home and brush that tooth!
4. Well, maybe you can help me straighten out my Longfellow.
5. Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause if it leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put out in K.P.
6. I know this is our first date but do you think the next time you make love to your boyfriend you could think of me?
7. That John Denver is full of shit, man.
8. I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me me.
9. Hey, girl! You gon' eat yo' cornbread?
10. I'm so against working I wouldn't even take a blow job.


* There is no prize.

Poll: Bush Ratings Hit New Low

Good. I'm glad his poll numbers are finally starting to actually reflect his performance. And just to be clear, I should point out that I'm not hoping for him to fail because I don't like him, I don't like him because he's a failure. And I'm not happy that his poll numbers suck because it makes him look bad (although that's ok by me), I'm happy because people are finally starting to realize how bad he is.

But I have mixed feelings aobut these things, too. On one hand, I'm glad that people are finally starting to see what a fraud this guy is, and hopefully that will lead to us not making similar mistakes in the future. But on the other hand, I just want to scream at people "What the fuck are you seeing now that hasn't been there the entire fucking time?" Bush hasn't changed one bit, it's just people's perception of him that has changed. Maybe if they hadn't been so blind, or apathetic, or whatever in the first place, then this guy wouldn't have gotten elected (or appointed or whatever) in the first place, or re-elected after that. Seriously, all the things that he's criticized for were there in 2004, except for the hurricane response. Some of them have developed a lot more during that time, like the Plame leak, and the non-existent weapons of mass destruction, but everything was there before the 2004 election for anyone who wanted to make an informed decision.

Anyway, hopefully these new attitudes will be reflected in the midterm elections in 2006, because Bush isn't doing this crap alone, and again in the 2008 Presidential election, assuming anyone worthwhile ends up running.