Loooong Weekend

It was a long weekend and I didn't have access to the internets so hopefully I haven't missed anything. Here goes:

You mean to tell me there are not more important things to spend time on other than this? First it was the high school kids using texting abbreviations for writing assignments, now there are courses on Facebook and Wikipedia. It's no wonder our graduates are behind the rest of the civilized world in academics.

Public trust is eroding in all of our federal institutions. I always amazed at people who think the federal government is the answer to our problems when they can't enforce the laws we have and can't be trusted to spend our money wisely. The original intent of the founding fathers was that the states take care of business that related to state issues and the federal government would pick up the rest. Now the Fed's are involved in just about every aspect of our daily lives and the sad part is that we're paying them to do it. When are American's going to wake up and realize that public servants are just that - servants. Things aren't going to get any better until there is some accountability and transparency at every level of government.

My daughter is in education and according to her, most of the kids labeled as dyslexic are either lazy or have some other learning disability (read: not too bright). Parents don't want to own up to the fact that they have a kid who is not as smart as everyone else's. It's also a way for teachers to make it easy on themselves. If they can get an underachieving student diagnosed as dyslexic (or some other learning disability), then the problem is someone else's. True dyslexia is a dehabilitating condition that truly deserves special attention .


I'll bet this is the last we hear of this. Last month, it was an article about how cheap solar cells in Australia could convert salt water into hydrogen. Have you heard anything about it since? Didn't think so.

It's a pity she had to learn that all politicians are scum the hard way. They'll use you as long as it is politically expedient to do so and then they'll throw you away like a used tissue. I feel for her loss but she was obviously naive about the political system.

Don't take this the wrong way but basically what they are doing is playing God. I guess all of medicine is playing God but at what point do you draw the line?. Some of these people's health will be compromised to some degree or another and this is the ultimate slap in the face to "Survival of the fittest". You won't have to take care of your health because the doctor will bring you back to life if you should have a heart attack. We all talk about the "dignity of life" but we don't necessarily respect the same in death. It's going to be my time soon or later and I don't know how I would feel about being brought back, especially if I was in some vegetative state because of brain damage.

Yeah, two of all animals in the world and the dinosaurs fit on Noah's Ark. Don't these people get it? There probably was a guy named Noah and he may have saved his family and some animals from a flood but he didn't save every living thing on earth. It would have been physically impossible (both definitions). By continuing to push their agenda, they are pushing Jesus and what he said to the back. Jesus was very clear in saying that we should use the Old Testament prophecies as justification for his Kingdom but he didn't refer to the Old Testament much outside of that. He didn't want people to continue to use the Old Testament (or Torah) as the basis for their faith. He is the basis for faith. It's interesting that none of what they talk about - Grand Canyon, dinosaurs on the ark, and Cain marrying his sister, are mentioned in the Old Testament. Having said all that, it's the last line of the article that concerns me the most.

Well, Well, Well

I would have to see some corraboration on this (so far nothing on Drudge) but if it is true, it wouldn't suprise me. By flaunting the law, she's no different from the liberals she always skewers. I've talked about this before but for a refresher, none of these radio talk show hosts and pundits gain any audience unless they sensationalize and polarize issues. I'm about to lose all respect for all of them. Hannity dodges the abortion issue with Guilliani and Romney by pointing fingers at the liberals and making it about partial birth abortion. If you're against it, don't support someone who is just because they're the best bet to beat the opposition. You get what you deserve anytime you settle. O'Reilly is always throwing his Catholic upbringing in people's faces and claims his faith gives him the right to judge other people's behaviour. A real Christian (Catholics included) doesn't have the right to judge - Jesus said it more than once. - "judge not lest ye be judged", "let the one among you with no sin cast the first stone" and "you will be judged as you have judged". All this finger pointing has led this country into a "Us vs Them" mentality and we've lost our sense of togetherness.


3 years makes me more than a little uncomfortable.


This is the third time Bush has nominated someone for a high level position, only to find out they had some skeletons in their closet. Doesn't the adminstration do their homework on these people? Does'nt he look a little too smug?

More Later

I kind of understand what's going on here but political correctness has become part and parcel of our every day lives. I guess someone's going to complain that there aren't any gay and lesbians in the picture or Moslems. We don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

The thing about this is that most kids don't really play on these things the way they were designed to be played on. They usually find some way to injure themselves by testing the limits and jumping off of them or some other nonsense. This is just another way parents are patting themselves on the back for being so great instead of taking the kid to the park and playing with them. Who knows, the kid might interact with some other kids and not end up thinking the world revolves around them.

This is no exercise. We mean to let Iran know that we can rain terror down on them at a moment's notice. I really wish there was a way to come to some sort of terms with the Iranian government but based on past experience you can't trust these people (the government, not the citizens). They're always going to tell you what you want to hear to get out of a jam and then once you turn around, they'll stab you in the back. It's too bad we couldn't have propped up the Sha a little longer and encourage him to correct some civil rights problems but we have Mr. "George Bush is the worst president ever" to thank for that, along with everything else that was wrong with this country from 1974 until Reagan came into office.

The minute we evacuate Iraq, Iran and all the rest of the terrorists will be licking their chops. Most of the citizens of the Westernized world don't realize how serious the Islamic Fundamentalists are. Until someone has the cohones and the resources to put the entire region under some sort of lockdown, we're going to continue to fight this battle. They'll never succeed at overthrowing the American government because the Hispanics are going to end up as the ruling class and they are not going to put up with it. It'll be Catholics vs Moslems, round 2.

This is what I'm talking about. In no case, is the killing of innocent men, women and children justified. And that includes Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The excuse that we saved millions of lives by doing that instead of invading Japan is just a canard. The Japanese were on their last legs and we could have just blockaded them until they capitulated. The same thing with the bombing of Dresden. Just because the Germans were bombing London didn't give the allies a pass on killing all those people. As long as we kept ahead of them in technology and kept targeting their war manufacturing, we would have been fine.

That hardly makes them covert, does it? I think is a ploy to get the Iranians thinking we will do it and see if they call our bluff. Besides, you can bet your ass that if the CIA is already doing covert operations in Iran, some other shadow agency is.

We certainly do stand to learn things from other countries but our cowboy mentality won't allow us to do that. The idea is that America and Americans are non-pariel is, how you say, stupide. This doesn't mean that multi-culturalism is the way to go, only that we need to be open to how other countries and cultures do things and if they'll work better for us than what we're already doing. I did notice that Ireland didn't make the list but hey, I don't really think they care which is something else I think we can learn as a country and as a people.

That just looks too much like work

Tuesday is dragging

Pretty boy John Edwards just can't help stepping in it. First the haircuts, then the outrageous mansion, now this. When is America going to wake up and realize that these guys are just in it for themselves. There's no such thing as honorable public service anymore.

I'm so glad I don't live in England. We all thought that Orwell was writing about the Third Reich but maybe he was really was being prophetic. The nanny-state is going to prevail eventually and we won't be able to do anything that even comes to close to free will. Anything that is judged potentially dangerous will be highly regulated and as a result we are going to evolve into a race of intellectually inferior beings with no sense of personal freedom.

This kind of thing infuriates me. Just because her daughter can' t wear the dress she bought for graduation and might get her feelings hurt is no reason to slap every other senior in the face who worked hard and earned their diploma. The idea that no one should suffer is just ridiculous. Suffering builds character and inspires people to do better so that they don't suffer again.

Miserable Monday

An inconvenient half-truth - It looks as though Al went off half-cocked again. One the pieces of evidence he uses in his movie is that there is a correlation between carbon dioxide levels and global temperature. While being absolutely correct, he gets it wrong about what causes the correlation. Increased carbon dioxide levels are a result of higher global temperatures, not the other way around. I can't believe someone spent money to produce this but when you consider it in the light of what it is, propaganda, then I guess they got their money's worth. It doesn't matter anymore if something is true or not as long as you can get publicity for it. The typical American thinks "Surely this must be true if they put all this effort and money into producing it."'


Exactly how does a cyclops kitty relate to creationism? If anything, it proves evolution because it was an adaptation that wasn't successful. Evolution is at work everytime a chicken is born with two extra legs or a snake is born with two heads. The adaptations that are succesful are more subtle and build upon strengths. What amazes me is the lengths that some people will go to in order to protect their ill-informed ideas. There's no use in trying to educate people like this because they don't want to be educated. They're satisfied with their little idea of the world and maybe that's ok because that's probably all they can handle. I'm not saying they're stupid, but I'm just sayin' . You draw your own conclusions.


This isn't the first time Carter has thrown Bush under the bus. I'm not Bush's biggest fan but he is the president and as such deserves respect from everyone, including former presidents. I'm sure Jimmy wouldn't want anyone dredging up his foreign policy blunders (remember Iran?) or his domestic policies (remember 21% interest rates). He's a loser and the only reason he got elected is because the country wanted a change after the Nixon debacle.

I can buy into this but only a little. I can admire their convictions but I'm not going to take food from dumpsters and live out of a van. There's so much we can all do to slow down the amount of stuff we throw away. I started keeping track of all the fax cover sheets and extraneous paper that goes through my small office and it's amazing. I'll bet my company could save a ton on fewer garbage pickups and make some money on recycling the paper we just toss now. Nothing aggravates me more than to clean out the fridge and throw away food that could have been eaten a couple days earlier. It's crazy.

Peaceful Saturday Morning

We really had no reason to think that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. I mean, he only used them once on the Kurds, right?

I don't think they get it. It's all about content and even handedness. If they would take a look at the situation with television news, they'd understand. None of the broadcast network news shows have a viewership under 35 years old. CNN and MSNBC don't have as many viewers combined as FNN does. Why? Because they aren't providing good content that is neutral politically. Oh yeah, and that internets thing is starting to gain a little ground too.

I thought the earth was only 5,000 years old? This won't convince any of the creationist/intelligent design idiots because they can't understand that the Bible isn't a entirely a history book, especially Genesis. I've ranted enough about this before so 'nuff said

I applaud Gibson for airing this because it shows people just how stupid and insensitive Patrice O'Neal and others like him are. What works in a night club doesn't translate to television. People pay to go to a night club and generally they know what they're in for. Everything in America is going to the lowest common denominator. Saturday Night Live, for instance, for quite a long time after it premiered was funny, topical and didn't have to resort to toilet humor or sexual innuendo. After geniuses like Phil Hartman and Eddy Murphy left, it went to hell in a handbasket. Schools aren't focusing on excellence, they're teaching down to the LCD. It's not that I don't think the kids that are having trouble don't deserve to be educated, it's just that I don't feel the kids that can really excell need to be held back. My wife and I quit going to my daughter's award day programs because the school was trying to find some way for every kid to get an award. Give people something to strive for, don't give them the idea that mediocrity and worse will be rewarded. Here's another example of mediocrity at work. I could understand having the opportunity to retake the test but that would be it.

What? Falwell loved sinners? Just the example of his reaction to 9/11 ought to be enough to show that he was trying to pick a fight for his own agrandizement (sound familiar, Ann?). She's just pandering to her constituancy and is no different than Al Gore. Notice how she quickly turns the story into a gay activist bashing piece. Nothing will get her more press and more support from the religious right than that. Note - I am not pro-gay or con-gay. I do think they set a fine example, however, on how to push an agenda. I don't necessarily like it but I do think they've done a great job.

Another example of the shameless shaping of our consciousness. You can't believe anything you see. Does Cameron Diaz look at her after shot and think that she is looking at herself? Some of the young girls and women that look to these actresses and models as being examples of beauty need to see this. The one of Julia Stiles is the most remarkable, though. She goes from an A cup to a C cup with the click of the mouse.

Day two - The world in crisis

Day Two Falwell update - His condition is still being reported as dead but it didn't stop the "Let's piss on Jerry". Even Bill O'Reilly got his two cents in yesterday. Good ole Jer' really brings out the worst in people.

This after the video of Paris sucking on a fattie hit the internets.

Oh, L'il Brudders

Lucky Bastard.

Don't complain - you tree huggin' liberals are the ones that voted for them. Tax hikes without voting for them. This country is going to implode in the next 10 years if nothing changes in the status quo.

Yeah, right.

OK, how stupid do you think we are? - Apollo 18 was the last mission to the moon.

Look at it this way. At least you won't get the bubonic plague

This guy has way too much time on his hands

Basically, this article is saying that drinking beer and not giving a shit about what other people say is the secret to happiness. Oh, and having a inflated sense of self worth makes you a asshole or French, take your pick.

 

Falwell update

Falwell update - He's still dead but Westboro Baptist Church is going to picket his funeral. When is someone going to kick Fred Phelps ass?

I hope the police in the US don't hear about this

Wooden Anchor?

The irony trifecta is in play

OMG, You mean we voted NOT to allow beer sales?

All's not well for Falwell

I haven't been able to post so far this week because the internet connection was messed up Monday and yesterday was absolutely crazy.

Firstly, I want to address the death of Jerry Falwell. While I have empathy for his family and don't wish ill for anyone, I am not sorry this hypocrite passed away. We all have to go sometime. For being a "man of the cloth", this guy did more to hurt real Christians than help them. Jesus said not to judge unless you want to be judged yourself but this didn't stop Falwell from calling people out in public and saying that America's problems were because of all of the sinners. "Hate the sin, Love the sinner" The sooner the rest of his ilk depart this mortal coil, the better because they've polarized people against Christians and we are supposed to love our enemies. I don't even want to get into how much Falwell, Robertson and the rest have personally profited from their congregations.

We have passed the point of no return. It's ridiculous that the people we hire to take care of our military veterans are lining their pockets. How do you get bonuses for running the most inept organization in the country?

Karma can be such a biatch

Maybe we shouldn't necessarily say nay to this. I'll take it out for a trot

This is just a publicity stunt. It takes more energy to produce hydrogen than the hydrogen generates. And where does that energy come from? Coal and natural gas fired electrical plants, mostly.

This guy has the biggest, brassiest ones in the world.

Oh, the irony of it all

I love this

I have always liked Isaac Asimov's books and short stories but this one is based on the false premise that the conciousness of the last computer would remain even after all the energy in the universe had been exhausted.

This isn't the first time I've seen this. Could it be that the drug companies are squashing it? No, they wouldn't do that, would they?

Happy Mother's Day !

I guess this was inevitable but where is it going to stop? I guess 1984 is about 23 years late.

And now, a heart-warming story about a grandmother and grandson

This is exactly what is wrong with multi-culturalism. Everyone doesn't need to participate in everyone else's culture. We all need to protect and preserve the culture we have (those of us that have any). The concept of a melting pot was that each culture still had it's own identity but we could all get along and respect each other's culture. Cultures aren't being strengthened by multiculturalism, they're being diluted.

He blazed a trail for comics that didn't just tell jokes - they make you think. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says but I respect his right to his opinions. Oh, and some of them are f...ing hilarious.

There's something about this that just didn't sit right with me. I'm not saying it they put that stuff in there on purpose or anything - I'm just sayin'

I think the fuss over all this is ridiculous. It's quite interesting that the people complaining aren't doing any research into what all the cups say, they are only focused on what their cup says. "I don't see any forest"

Finally, for Mother's Day, a tale of one mother's love for her little sweet girl.

Saturday in the Park

This was interesting in the sense that every other country in the world seemed to be represented except for the US. What does that say about our intellectual level?

I'm a fan of Natalie Portman as an actress but I don't think I need to know what is going on in her life 24/7.

This is kind of creepy and cool at the same time. I've seen fish with lobes for fins but I didn't know the used them to walk like that. Maybe this is what our ancestors looked like before they walked out of the water (if you believe in that sort of thing - nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

Reusable adult diapers for gamblers - that's what I call defining your niche

We better keep an eye on them. They have the satisfaction in knowing that no one is going to attack them on their own turf with as many people as they have.

"Why, why why (sobbing)" "Because we can make more money, that's why. Now shut up and go back to hugging your damn trees"

Oh no you didn't Oh yes I did - snap. This Baptist idiot must'nt have read his Bible too well. I think there's something in there about loving your enemies. I'm sure his church will be overrun by all the Muslims converting.

I am so scared about the future of our civilization if these kids are going to be our future voters. Hollywood crushed a movie call "Idiocracy" with Luke Wilson not too long ago because it hit very close to the mark as far as the declining IQ's of our youth. The premise was that less intelligent people have more children than more intelligent people so in 500 years, the world is populated by a bunch of morons. Luke Wilson, as a participant in a time travel experiment is sent to that future and is the smartest guy on the planet.

Hmm, I never would have thought that.

Daddy, um, Mommy told me to do it

Never mind that people are still buying gas-guzzling SUV's.It's the American car companies fault for not producing more fuel efficient cars according to Barak Obama. His fix is to have the Federal Government ( the very model of efficiency) regulate the car companies We don't know what expensive gasoline is. I was listening to a report the other day that said gas was nearly $10 per gallon in Britain. My suggestion is to put a $5.00 a gallon tax on it and see how many soccer moms trade in their SUV's for sedans with fuel efficient engines.

I can vouch for this myself. My daughter started having watered down wine with Sunday dinner when she was about 6 or so. She is now 22 and is a very responsible drinker.

Soccer Playing Chickens

This could mean the end of all energy problems but it's probably 15 years away from any practical use.

So it's the restaurants fault we've all become overweight slobs (read the whole article). That's like saying it's the road's fault for the car accident. Personal responsiblity is in real danger of extinction.

This actually made the news.

I used to be able to see this when I was a kid but with all the city lights, sometimes you can't see any stars at all.

This reviewer obviously doesn't know music (the last blurb). To lump Rush with Journey and Poison is ridiculous to say the least. I'm not the biggest Rush fan in the world but as a musician, I respect their musical integrity and musicianship. Journey was pop music in rock clothing and Poison was just a caricature of rock music. Rush was able to transcend their rock roots into progressive rock and jazz and kind of defined a genre of their own.

Can't they leave well enough alone?? "Damn dirty apes!"

Today's pot calling the kettle black story comes to us from the Middle East.

This guy still rocks!

Wassamatawitchu

Remember the story a couple of days ago about all the seismic activity at Yellowstone?

When are people going to stand up to the PC crowd? I am so tired of hearing about people who get their feelings hurt over silly crap like this

I'm surprised it took this long. Here's a prediction - CD's aren't too far behind. With so much of the distribution of music going to digital, I would suspect that in 5 years, CD's will be obsolete. I wonder why the record companies haven't gone to selling USB drives with music on them. 1GB flash drives are only about $15.00 now and that's more than enough to hold a whole CD encrypted at CD quality. I'll bet that you could get them for half that in bulk.Oh, crap. Some record company exec will read this and steal my idea.

I hope this works. There's about a 50/50 chance that this will suck

It's Brooklyn - what did you expect - Hey, whachu lookin' at?

The Lysol one takes the cake although there were a couple that made me throw up a little in the back of my mouth

Pay close attention !



This is kind of cool if you're an astronomy nerd

Oh, the brew-manity!

Alright, now I'm freaked out

I admire him for speaking his mind, but is he going to catch it when he gets home (Oh, never mind - he never married)

Check out the quote from this idiot near the bottom of the article. It's stuff like this that makes us love lawyers so much

I am to assume that there are no traffic lights in Russia?

This is some cool shiznit

A bit more

I just got rid of BellSouth (just merged with AT&T) because they hijacked my account with stuff I didn't want. I noticed one month that my phone bill had doubled and after closer examination, I noticed that there were some things added to my bill that I had not signed up for and they had sent a letter to my long distance carrier,Sprint (who I had done business with for like 15 years) that I had requested to change to BellSouth. When I called to find out what the deal was, they were very quick to take it off my bill. However, when I called Sprint to renew my long distance account, they said they couldn't offer me the same deal I had before ($.10 per minute with the first 50 minutes free and a 10% discount). I have a sinking suspiscion that a computer program randomly adds things to people's accounts and if they don't catch it, that's a little more profit. If they do notice, BellSouth is very gracious to fix their "mistake". Interesting, "nes pas"?

I never know whether to believe this stuff or not.

Is this cool or creepy? or both? Sometimes, it's better just to leave well enough alone.

That's too cold for me.

I never thought I'd see these folks on this side of a freedom of speech issue.

Even for $2000, I don't think this is going to have much of a market other than nerds

What the hell is an ametrosexual? (read the whole story)

Remember all those shows about the Supervolcano under Yellowstone? If you live within 500 miles of there, get ready!

Only in Japan

Isn't Special Ksupposed to be a diet cereal?

This will only be important to people in the South

I for one, want to do my part to keep this from happening - Ireland, here I come!

Oops!

More later