Cry Havoc...and let slip the blogs of war!

Twits.

2009-07-28T22:13:00.001-04:00

According to a LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll, 69% of adults surveyed have little knowledge of what Twitter is. I disagree.

100% of intelligent adults don't give a shit what Twitter is and don't waste their mind power on pointless time-vampires like Twitter.

Independence Day, if you please.

2009-07-04T16:59:00.007-04:00

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

This past week I've probably pissed a few people off (so what's new?) by correcting them when they wished me a "Happy July 4th"!

I corrected them by telling them that July 4th is just a date and that the Holiday we celebrate is Independence Day, not just some random date on the calendar. That in 1776 our forebears declared an end to what the believed was tyranny and separated themselves from what was the then, the greatest military Empire since ancient Rome. To do this, they risked not only their reputations, but their wealth, their very lives. (Ok, I didn't go into quite that much detail, but you get the idea!)

The men who wrote our Declaration of Independence were not perfect men, they did not live perfect lives, they did not write a perfect document, nor did they create a perfect nation. However they believed that an oppressive, arrogant, unaccountable government is the enemy of freedom and that liberty cannot co-exist with tyranny. They believed that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were our God-given (yes God) rights and they declared rightly; "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

They may not have been "prefect men", but they sure as hell had the right idea.

There's a message in that Declaration for all of us today, if we have the guts to believe it.

Happy Independence Day.

Special Interests Win The Day.

2009-07-02T10:59:00.013-04:00

"When special interests put their thumb on the scale, and distort the free market, the people who compete by the rules come in last."
- Candidate BARACK OBAMA, in a speech: Aug. 2, 2008

This past week the U.S. House of Non-Representatives passed by a narrow seven vote margin, the American Clean Energy Security Act, a bill touted by special interests. A bill which critics (Republicans mostly) claim will raise taxes and be a job-killer and which proponents (you guessed it, the Dems) believe will end our dependence on "foreign oil" and create new jobs.

The one thing the bill will definitely do is raise our energy costs (that would be the amount you pay for electricity in your home or business). Turns out that you paying "too little" for electricity encourages us to use more "foreign oil".

Time will tell I suppose, whether or not this bill will do what Obama and his Democrats say it will, my personal opinion is that it won't.

I can't see how raising my utility bill is good for me and that's the one thing that everyone on both sides of this bill say is going to happen. It figures that would be the one thing that all of our elected Non-Representatives would agree on.

Welcome to Bizarro World.

2009-06-30T22:15:00.006-04:00

(T)he Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously ruled Franken the winner of last November’s Senate race. In a 5-0 decision, the court upheld a three-judge panel’s April 14 ruling that Franken defeated Coleman in the race by 312 votes out of 2.9 million cast.

The Minnesota Supreme Court today declared unfunny Comedian and failed radio host Al Franken the winner in the U.S. Senate race against Norm Coleman.

Will there be widespread Democratic outrage that the court intervened and decided the case ala Florida 2000? Or that neither candidate had a clear majority?

Of course not.

"HONK!...HONK!...HONK!"

In other news, the big fat hairy asshole in charge of Iran has declared the election in that country valid and declared Janitor-in-Chief Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the official winner of the completely impotent position of President of Iran. The janitor is declaring victory, even as Iranian protesters are killed in the streets for questioning the outcome of the vote. Gives an all new meaning to the term "hanging chad"...or perhaps "hanging Abdul" would be more accurate?

"Does this pose make me look important?"

Darkness Gripped Sanford?

2009-06-29T11:41:00.005-04:00

It wasn't "darkness" that gripped South Carolina's Governor Mark Sanford and led him to have an affair with María Belén Chapur, his Argentinian mistress.

I'll leave it to your imagination as to what it was which gripped Mark Sanford.

Mistress Uni-Brow.

Beat Him, Everyday.

2009-06-29T11:19:00.004-04:00

The swine Bernie Madoff, whose unabashed greed and loathing for all things decent, and who has costs thousands of people their life-savings, would be lucky in my opinion if he is only sentenced to prison for the rest of his life.

If I were King, I would sentence Madoff to daily beatings at the hands of his victims. I would also sentence his family to hard labor to support those that they bilked.

Prison seems kind of like a cake-walk by comparison to what I consider Justice.

Poster Boy for Rich-White Trash.

Not a Good Week To Be Famous.

2009-06-29T10:47:00.009-04:00

Last week was not a good week for famous people.

In the course of six days, the collective "we" lost an average of one famous person per day, although actually several of these famous people died on the same day.

June 23rd - Ed McMahon

June 25th - Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson

June 27th - Gale Storm (My Little Margie)

June 28th - Billy Mays (the Oxy-Clean ad guy), Fred Travalena (Celebrity impressionist)

In the case of McMahon, Storm, Fawcett and perhaps Mr. Travalena, the deaths were likely expected as these people were either very old or had been ill for some time.

Of course the death of Jackson as I eluded to in an earlier post was unexpected, but not that surprising, in fact, the revelation that Jackson may have been addicted to a variety of prescription drugs actually not only explains his sudden departure, but also sheds a ray of light on his bizarre antics over the last decade.

I suppose to me, the most shocking of all of these deaths is the death of Advertising-Hockster Billy Mays. Afterall, this was a big, energetic, burly, healthy-looking guy (if you overlook his jet-black hair dye I mean). This was a guy who, aside from being full of shit, was certainly full of life. Not to make light of his passing, but I would fully expect and actually be disappointed if Mays didn't have in his will a request that his funeral be turned into an infomercial for Orange-Glow Casket Polish!

Now how much would you pay?

Retail Tales

2009-06-27T11:24:00.003-04:00

Things your retailer isn't going to tell you, but probably would like to:

1) - Just because I sell this stuff doesn't mean I can afford it.

2) - Prices may go down, but costs never do.

3) - If you come into my store talking on a cell phone I will likely ignore you.

4) - You are not the center of my universe.

5) - 10 minutes before closing time, my feet hurt, I'm tired, hungry, and eager to go home. If you want to buy something; do it, otherwise please leave.

6) - What's a "Holiday"? What's a "Weekend"?

7) - I may ask "How are you?", it doesn't mean I really want to know your life story.

8) - If the first words out of your mouth are "Show me something cheap!", I will most likely direct you to the nearest mirror.

9) - If you're going to tell me that you're friends with my employer and ask for a better price from him, tell me that before I spend an hour selling you on the product.

10) - I had as much to do with creating the U.S. trade deficit as I did with causing the sun to rise this morning. If you have a problem with all of my products being made in China, take it up with the guy who you voted into office, not with me.

Where are the jobs?: Try Looking In China.

2009-06-27T10:00:00.008-04:00

Members of the GOP are now asking a question that they might well have asked years ago as they were crafting so-called "FREE TRADE" legislation; Where are the jobs?

The answer is deceptively simply; the jobs are in China, right where you arranged to send them, you dummies.

Meanwhile, the Dummicrats aren't doing any better as they are now intent on passing so-called "CLIMATE CHANGE" legislation which will dramatically increase energy costs (neither party disputes this) and probably cause more job loss as companies shed employees in order to cut costs under the new regulations.

And all of this for what? "Free Trade" to please their Evil Puppet-Master Corporations and "Climate Change" to placate the Earth-worhipping Enviro-Nazis.

Where does all of this leave the rest of us? If you answered "SCREWED", you're catching on.

Why can't our so-called "LEADERS" craft legislation designed to enhance the lives and livelihoods of US for a change, instead of this global nonsense meant to enhance the lives of the already rich corporations and the lunatics of the leftist fringe?

Where is OUR representation in Government?

Dead.

2009-06-26T10:12:00.005-04:00

It was somewhat unexpected that Michael Jackson died yesterday, but I can't really say that I'm "surprised".

Michael Jackson's life over the past 15 years or so has been a train wreck looking for a stalled truck on the tracks. I wonder if the public will ever know the real reason for Jackson's untimely passing.

I won't bother to enumerate the bizarre events of Jackson's life, for they are already well-known and well-documented and ultimately not too important anymore.

Suffice it to say; he's dead,...Shum-on.

Freedom and Islam still not mixing well.

2009-06-26T09:58:00.006-04:00

The face of Pure Fucking Evil.

"I want the judiciary to ... punish leading rioters firmly and without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson," Iranian senior hard-line cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Tehran University.

In case you haven't figured out what lesson it is that Assahola Khatami wants to teach the protesters, it's this; "Don't question your government or your government will KILL you".

So Iranians, how's that Islamic Revolution working out for you guys?

Farrah 1947 - 2009

2009-06-25T16:55:00.004-04:00

Don't Cry For Mark South Carolina.

2009-06-25T11:38:00.004-04:00

What a dumbass!

Coming hot of the heels of a similar announcement by another heel, Senator John Ensign of Nevada, the Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford is just the latest example of why term limits are so very needed in all levels of government. People who hold power for an extended period of time just naturally begin to think of themselves as above the law and above morality.

Clean Up in the Goofball Aisle!

2009-06-25T11:06:00.003-04:00

How many votes did the Janitor of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually get?

At least he can count.

I have trouble remembering names, how about I just call you "Ma'am"?

2009-06-19T20:07:00.006-04:00

Sen. Barbara Boxer's suggestion to a general that she'd really rather be called "senator" has raised a few hackles here.

"Could you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am?' " Boxer (D-Calif.) said this week to Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, testifying at a hearing that she was chairing on the levees(sometimes called "dikes") in New Orleans. "It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title. I'd appreciate it."

Barbara Boxer wants to be called "Senator" instead of "Ma'am". Since in my opinion, she hasn't earned and therefor doesn't deserve either title, how about shallow, elitist, mega-bitch instead?

"That's SENATOR Mega-Bitch to you buddy!"

Deliverance Us From Evil.

2009-06-02T13:35:00.008-04:00

Published: June 1, 2009

DANVILLE — Danville police have arrested two suspects, and have a warrant for a third, in connection with a Sunday morning home invasion that sent a Danville man to the hospital.

Police have charged Ronnie Wayne Pruitt, 26, and Timothy Gordon Wilson, 27, both of Pelham, N.C., with aggravated malicious wounding and burglary, according to a news release from Lt. Mike Mondul, of the Danville Police Department.

Danville police hold active warrants for a third suspect, John Lindsey Pruitt, 27, also of Pelham, N.C., for aggravated malicious wounding, burglary and assault and battery.

Police say three men kicked open the front door of a home in the 500 block of Cedarbrook Drive at about 2 a.m. Sunday, and beat the victim with tools.

The victim, a 30-year-old man, was taken to Danville Regional Medical Center, then transferred to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Mondul said the victim remained in the intensive care unit Monday.

This is sad. But hardly in my opinion qualifies as a "home invasion". When I hear the words HOME INVASION, I think of innocent people asleep in their beds when the door is suddenly, violently broken in and armed thugs storm into your home...you know, kind of like back in the Janet Reno days. (Okay, that was a cheap shot, but you get the idea)

This is more a case of a domestic dispute between persons of some relation, possibly brother/cousins. And not to come off as overly judgmental, but this looks a lot like a case of caucasus-refuseous intoxicus.

Show Of Hands!

2009-05-29T13:08:00.002-04:00

Raise your hand if you're an incontinent, useless, idiotic, cold-war relic with one foot in the grave and tenuous grasp on sanity!

Thought of the Day - 5/20/09

2009-05-20T21:28:00.003-04:00

I don't why sometimes I go for months not posting here and suddenly a thought will pop into my mind that I feel I must share...anyway, it happened today.

I was listening to the radio while driving and heard a commercial telling me that police are CRACKING DOWN on seat-belt violations and if I didn't have my seat belt hooked, "YOU WILL GET CAUGHT AND YOU WILL BE FINED!"

Great! Something else to add to the "worry-about list", along with terrorism, global-warming, global-cooling, and asteroid collisons; seat-belt fines.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for safety and for the seat-beats. I can honestly say that since the selt-belt law was passed, I have never driven further than the end of my driveway without my seat-belt on.

And while it may not be very smart to drive without a seat-belt, I hardly think that it merits a CRACK-DOWN by police. Driving while unbelted hardly ranks up there with...I don't know, clubbing baby seals while selling poisoned crack to the Pope or something!

It just seems to me that if the police want to CRACK DOWN on something, why CRACK DOWN on something that is the ultimate victimless "crime", in fact, hardly a crime at all. More likely just some poor schmuck who was in a hurry to get to work and forgot. Oh course, from the cop's perspective, it's less likely that the seat-belt offender is going to be packing heat.

How about the police put as much effort into catching people who are actually intentionally committing crimes instead of trying to wring every last penny out of those who do it by accident?

Judging a book by it's cover.

2009-04-16T21:12:00.006-04:00

Yes, it was a cliche' to say that you can't judge a book by it's cover, but that's exactly what the audience and judges on Britain's Got Talent, the British version of America's Got Talent, which is the rip-off American Idol, which is a rip-off of Britain's Got Talent, were doing in the case of admittedly dumpy-looking, but unquestionably talented contestant Susan Boyles.

Perhaps everyone needed a reminder that regardless of what you look like, all people have something to offer, even outside of the narrow modern definitions of beauty and talent. And even though the whole thing stunk a bit of a made-for-TV "set-up", it was still nice to watch.

Bravo Ms. Boyles, not only for being genuine, but for teaching that nasty, acerbic Simon Cowell that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, even when you are indeed a judge.

http://video.yahoo.com/network/100063489?v=4853639&l=100063517

Nothing Much Happened Today

2009-01-20T15:46:00.002-05:00

Because if all men are created equal, and if people are indeed all the same and if judging a person by the color of their skin is wrong...then nothing important happened today.

In a Season of Lies, some Truth.

2008-11-03T12:49:00.003-05:00

I take my right to vote way too seriously.

I mean, with less than 24 hours to go before the polls open, here I sit still utterly confused about how I should vote, as if my one little vote really mattered.

But still, even though I know that, especially at the Presidential level, my vote is insignificant, I want to vote the right way.

But I don't trust either party and neither candidate. I think both are great big looming disasters and I don't want either of them elected. Looks like there is no "right" way to vote this year.

Maybe I'll just stay home and hide under the bed.

Then again, sometimes even a "wasteland" can be useful...

2008-10-13T12:13:00.005-04:00

A little truth about the Freddie-Mac Debacle.

Youtube - The Next Vast Wasteland.

2008-10-11T10:56:00.017-04:00

When I first discovered Internet blogging, I thought it was a fascinating, cutting-edge tool for regular folks (like me) to finally have a voice.

I was wrong.

Now blogging is about boredom and frustration. Yes, I still blog as a way of blowing off steam or sometimes just to organize my thoughts, (or lack thereof) but I don't think that for me, blogging will ever be more than it is right now; a dumping ground of random thoughts, dumb ideas and the occasional flash of brilliance.

Then I discovered youtube and I thought, no THIS is the cutting-edge tool for us regular folks (like me) to finally have a voice.

But once again, I was wrong.

I did find some bright spots along the way, but so much of youtube has become commercial or just downright stupid and inane. It's become less of a voice of the people and more of a repository for the bottomlessly stupid, the incredibly pointless and the attention-deprived. Even that attention-craving whore Orka Winfrey, who can hardly claim she is ignored, has deemed it necessary for her ample presence to haunt the airwaves at youtube, as if she needed more exposure.

Side by side with the Hollywood "notice-me" crowd on youtube are nobodies such as the disturbing, laughably insane and utterly talentless Chris Crocker, who for reasons which continue to astound me, has a considerable audience.

Another sign of the impending youtube apocalypse is the recent copyright quarrel between one of youtube's many atheists and a member who claims to be running a Christian ministry on the Internet. If you're a regular youtube junkie, you probably already know these two, if you're not, then I'm not giving away their names...they've already received more attention than they deserve. I'll simply refer to them as Member T and Member V. It seems that Member T took some scenes from Member V's videos and made new videos critical of Member V, which Member V didn't appreciate. So Member V filed claims against Member T for copyright infringement. Member T's videos got yanked, but then Member T claimed that Member V didn't own the copyrights to his videos which T pilfered and the whole thing devolved into a steaming pool of Internet drama and voyeuristic angst. In the end Member T bullied Member V into reading an online apology to Member T and now all is now right with the world...well, okay...I can't back up that last statement.

There are hundreds of thousands of examples, perhaps more of youtube members posting irrelevancies, from lonelygirl15 to Ian what's-his-name, but no discussion of youtube's decline would be complete without a nod to the one individual who has contributed so much to it's intellectual downward spiral. That would of course be the video pestilence which is "Fred". Yes Fred, a weird-acting pseudo-teen who pretends to be an ADHD 6-year old. "Fred's" whole act is to run around shouting, mewling his juvenile chatter and mugging for the camera. The video and audio is sped up to give his nonsense an irritating Alvin and the Chipmunks feel. "Fred" is currently the number one watched and subscribed channel on youtube, and if that's not 569,448 good reasons why video cameras should be licensed and the estate of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. should file copyright infringement against "Fred", then I don't know what is. It's also a fairly accurate barometer of the direction in which youtube is headed unfortunately.

Of course, there still are as I said, some bright spots, although you might disagree.

There's "confusedmatthew" who does some biting and frankly hilarious reviews of bad movies, a subject near and dear to my heart!

The comic antics of "BaratsAndBereta".

The angry everyman who is (or was) "boh3m3".

"cutewithchris", Chris Levin's edgy viewer-pets show which blends parody and cutting quips with off the wall satire. (I should be writing ads for youtube!)

Oh and if you're wondering, yes I have posted exactly one, count 'em ONE youtube video; a series of still pictures of outdoor scenes from around my town set to music which I don't own the rights to...which probably violates someone's copyright.

October Random Bits

2008-10-09T11:39:00.009-04:00

Maybe it's a good time for another one of my random ramblings on current events, so here goes.

Barack Obama - Not my first choice for President, but not my last either. What he lacks in depth, he makes up for in empty rhetorical bullshit.

John McCain - My last choice for President after everyone else, including me. His military service and POW status not withstanding, this man politically speaking, truly is another George W. Bush, and we already have one of those thank you.

Ron Paul - My first choice for President, if only. A man who understands the true conservative principles which were the hallmark of the "Reagan Revolution", and which have been abandoned in the wake of GWB.

Sarah Palin - Very attractive, funny, and a hoot to be around, sure you betcha! But about as deep as a thimble.

Joe Biden - Despite the hair, still an idiot.

700 Billion Dollars - Imagine if they divided it up and gave it to each and every citizen over the age of 18 instead, would that help revive the economy?

Congress - Why did it take months and months for Congress to pass a "stimulus package" to send us all a few hundred bucks each, but it only took them a week to approve 700 billion dollars sent to millionaires?

George W. Bush - Please just take a nap until January, please!

Meg Whitman - Former EBay CEO and someone that John McCain suggests could be Treasury Secretary in a McCain administration. I guess Sen. McCain wants her to do to the U.S. what she did to eBay; take a huge golden parachute on the way out the door and leave a megalomaniac in charge of the company's downfall.

Rush Limbaugh - Rush considers himself a voice for conservatives. Yesterday he said that it was up to "us", I suppose he means his audience, to drag McCain across the finish line in order to save the Republican Party. Why would a conservative want to save the Republican Party?

Neither a borrower nor a lender be...

2008-09-29T10:53:00.005-04:00

This message is not for the rich, nor is it for the very poor. Because the very rich and the very poor have advocacy groups to speak for them. This is for those of us in the middle, who no one calls poor or rich, the ones of us who so much is asked of and so little is done for.

Do you feel like there is a giant barbed shaft being shoved up your butt today?

You should.

There is.

And it's got George W. Bush's hand on it.

That's one Hell of a STIMULUS!

Half Full or Half Baked? Well almost half!

2008-05-09T13:11:00.002-04:00

Stupid is as stupid does.

2008-05-06T10:48:00.007-04:00

Tom Hanks; shut up.

I, as an average American of simple means and ordinary education don't want to know who you, a very highly paid actor, want to be President.

It simply doesn't matter to me, I don't care.

You sir, live in a world of privilege and excess. You do not have to wait for anything. Anything you want is at your fingertips everyday for the rest of your life. You are so divorced from the mainstream of American life, that you cannot possibly know what is best for people who must wait, who work, and strive, and struggle just to have the basics of life.

A broken appliance or a stopped up toilet won't deplete your savings. You'll never have to choose between food and medicine. Your fortune will last far beyond your lifetime despite whoever the next ten Presidents may be.

So please do not insult the people of the United States ever again by telling us who you want to be elected.

Just enjoy your wealth, your millions and millions and millions of dollars, and let that be enough for you.

Okay? Buh-bye now, buh-bye!

American Idiot.

2008-05-05T14:23:00.008-04:00

Hi, it's me again.

Yeah, I promised that I'd post more, well maybe not promised, but I certainly suggested that I might.

But sometimes, I just take a look at the world around me and I'm literally so overwhelmed by all the shit, that I cannot form a cohesive blog about it.

The nation known as the United States of America is in such shoddy condition right now, that if it were a corporation, it would no doubt be dissolved by the board of directors and it's assets liquidated, if in fact there were any assets remaining.

I guess I'll start with the topic that just has everyone's head a spinnin'; the ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE....oh whoopie, somebody hold me down!

Our Idiot President and the cowardly whores of Congress have graciously decided to send us poor taxpayers a tiny amount of money so that we can go out and spend it in order to revive our dying economy. Because according to these morons, three to twelve hundred dollars per person is going to make a big difference when inflation is running rampant. Rather than address the real reasons for this, which are chiefly; out of control spending, a one-sided trade policy, a costly "war" and corporate greed, our politicians have decided to do what they do best and most often when theres a problem, they are throwing money at it.

And just where does this money come from? Well ultimately it comes from the tax-payer, so they are giving us money, encouraging us to spend it on things we otherwise might not be able to afford, and then reclaiming a portion of it in the taxes they collect. Oh and in the process they are driving the value of everyone's income and savings down! Well isn't that just dandy?

I have said before and it bears repeating, that I had a hand in electing this buffoon who currently occupies the White House, as much as any single person with one vote has a hand in electing a President, but I just can't wait for him to leave office. In fact, I'm wondering if perhaps all us citizens could pool our "tax rebates" together and buy-out the remainder of G.W.B.'s term, sort of the way corporations buy-out an overpaid employee?

This guy can't leave office soon enough and I want him to take Congress with him.
And although I'm disgusted with the all three Presidential candidates and have no intention of voting for any of them, at least the burden of having elected a horrible President will be off my shoulders once the Idiot leaves office.

Oh, and for the record, I won't be spending my "tax rebate", I'll be saving it. Because unlike our Government, I don't believe in spending every last dime I take in and then some! (Plus, I feel like I'm sticking it to them just a little by doing it!)

I'm Baaaaaaaaack!

2008-03-07T19:54:00.002-05:00

What the?

Where the heck have I been for a whole year? Well, that's a good question, since I haven't been anywhere, well obviously I've been somewhere, but where? Well right here, well, not here obviously, since I haven't posted since last February, but I haven't gone anywhere either...just haven't felt much like posting.

Well, that's not exactly true either. I've felt like posting, I just haven't done it, until now.

Apparently there's a contest or an election of some sort coming up this Fall that has a lot of people talking. I frankly think I'll just sit this one out, for reasons which should be obvious. I might have been excited about it if Ron Paul had emerged as the front-runner, because I truly believe that Dr. Paul has the best interests of America at heart and has a firm grasp of the Constitution, you know, that paper that the other candidates use to wipe with, yeah, that's the one.

But unfortunately, Ron Paul has been treated as a joke by the media and the media gets the say-so in everything, so why bother, right?

Well, I don't guess it really matters, I mean who gets elected. Of the three, Clinton, Obama and the democrats favorite Republican; John McCain, Obama probably scares me the least...which should bother me, but it doesn't. But hey, I voted for Bush, so what the hell do I know?

Cameron, You Ignorant Slut.

2007-06-25T09:05:00.001-04:00

Cameron Diaz is an idiot, true. She's never going to win a membership in MENSA or be mistaken for Einstein. But that doesn't excuse blatant outright stupidity in the name of her hokey leftist politics.

This stupid untalented bitch, who would probably jump all over George W. Bush for going to war for oil, most likely bought her Maoist handbag in order to offend Americans, that is to say, NORTH Americans in the U.S.

She in her bottomless ignorance probably thought being seen with a communist emblem on her side would be the perfect poke in the eye to traditional Americans who despise communism and leftists in general.

What the brainless Ms. Diaz failed to take into account, was how people who had been abused by communism might feel about it.

This is because, as is the case with most of Hollywood, people like Ms. Diaz can't see anything past the end of their own noses. Since anything communist is the dream of the American left, Diaz (an idiot) didn't understand why Peruvians didn't share her love for the brutal communist Mao Zedong.

Even her lame apology revealed much about Ms. Diaz' stupidy and general lack of knowledge. "I sincerely apologize to anyone I may have inadvertently offended. The bag was a purchase I made as a tourist in China and I did not realize the potentially hurtful nature of the slogan printed on it,"

Mon Jun 25, 5:55 AM ET

LIMA, Peru - Cameron Diaz apologized Sunday for carrying a bag with a political slogan that evoked painful memories in Peru.

The voice of Princess Fiona in the animated "Shrek" films visited the Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru's Andes on Friday carrying an olive green bag emblazoned with a red star and the words "Serve the People" printed in Chinese, perhaps Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong's most famous political slogan.

The bags are marketed as fashion accessories in some world capitals, but in Peru the slogan evokes memories of the Maoist Shining Path insurgency that fought the government in the 1980s and early 1990s in a bloody conflict that left nearly 70,000 people dead.

"I sincerely apologize to anyone I may have inadvertently offended. The bag was a purchase I made as a tourist in China and I did not realize the potentially hurtful nature of the slogan printed on it," Diaz said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.

On Friday, one prominent Peruvian human rights activist said Diaz should have been a little more aware of local sensitivities when picking her accessories.

In Sunday's statement, the star of "There's Something About Mary" said the purpose of her visit was to participate in a television show that celebrates Peru's culture. The actress has been in Peru as part of "4 REAL," a Canadian TV production that focuses on young community leaders around the world.

"I'm sorry for any people's pain and suffering and it was certainly never my intention to reopen what I now know is a painful wound in this country's history," she said.

Diaz also spoke of Peruvians' beauty and warmth and said she wished "for their continued healing."

Feeling The Burn (out).

2007-04-03T07:51:00.001-04:00

I'm back again from a self-induced hiatus from blogging.

Probably I need to catch up on a little personal stuff, well not really, real personal, just stuff going on around me, rather than stuff going on in "the world".

Two of my favorite places to frequent have gone belly-up, one was a total suprise, the other I have known was going of of business for some time.

My favorite locally-owned and run book store and my neighborhood gym have both closed up. What does that say about a town when the bookstore and gym close, but the fast-food joints and the horrible Wal-Mart are all going strong?

The bookstore closing was a shock to me, though in retrospect, it shouldn't have been. Surely the days of Mom & Pop type stores is rapidly coming to a close, which should bother me since I work for a Mom & Pop store!

The gym, I knew was going for the last six months. Little by little it's been dying and yet I stuck it out there as members left and machines vanished as they were sold-off. The last month was particularly hard as we all knew it was the final month. My last "workout" there was Wednesday the 28th of March, the same day I joined another gym. The new gym is further away from my home, but it's open at least, the other one is history now.

The one thing I've noticed about this new gym, and I've only been twice, is that it's a lot more crowded than the old one. Which is nice in a way because it's not as depressing as the old one got to be. Another thing I've noted is that while my old gym catered to a slightly older, and perhaps less-fit crowd, the new one is younger and far more fit. This makes me the ugliest person in the room, and it's a little itimidating to be honest. While I'm neither particularly old, ugly or fat, in comparison to an extremely young, good looking and fit crowd, I'm a troll!

Last night, I guess I overdid it a little. Even though this new gym has purchased a lot of the equipment from my old one, I decided to do my leg workout on the stuff I'd never used before. When I left there I was definitely "feeling the burn" as they say. After I got home however and went to sit down to use the computer, I was feeling the age instead! I was too tired to sit at my desk and ended up instead on the sofa propped up by a pillow. Let me say that again and clarify, I was literally too tired to sit in a chair!

This morning I felt like my legs were filled with wet sand!

But I did have one person compliment me on my well developed calves...not too bad for a troll I guess.

Hollyweirder and weirder

2007-02-27T18:59:00.000-05:00

Well, Former Vice President and land-slug Al Gore has won an Oscar award. I assume for best work of fiction for his propaganda piece; An Incovenient Woman...or was it Truth or Dare? Whatever, it doesn't matter.

Here I was all set to ignore politics and concentrate on trashing Hollywood, like it needs me to do it, and here they go and further combine the two! Oh well, nothing I enjoy more than ripping on that worthless piece of excrement Al Gore.

And the Oscar for the best performance by an inanimate object goes to...

Mind you, I'm not denying that there is weather, or that Global Warming of some sort may exist. I'm denying that Al Gore exists. When it comes to the climate, try to think a little bigger than whats been going on for the last 100 years. The globe has warmed and cooled many times in the past, long before Al Gore, American or the internal combustion engine. Gore's conclusions and beliefs are for POLITICAL PURPOSES ONLY! In other words, they are lies and misrepresentations of facts. They are made for the purpose of SCARING YOU INTO GIVING UP SOME OF YOUR FREEDOMS! Same as the left says about terrorism.

The inconvenient truth is, Hollywood and the political left are in bed together, and you couldn't ask for a better example of that than Oscar night 2007. Fortunately, most people weren't watching. That's a great way to reduce hot air, just ignore Hollywood and the liberal looney-tunes like Al "anything for attention" Gore.

The Return of the NOTICE ME Crowd.

2007-02-20T21:03:00.000-05:00

So, I guess you could say I've grown a little bored with blogging. I suppose it's because bloggers almost inevitably end up discussing politics and since I've given up on that particular subject, I've been somewhat without a windmill to joust.

But recently, it's come to my attention that one of my favorite foils; Idiot Celebrities, have been making a lot of news. Hence my new mission.

It's interesting to me, and a bit sad, that a so-called "celebrity" nowadays feels that they must to do something outrageous to get noticed. Such as the much-publicized and ignored as much as possible by me, feud between Donald "Tribble-Head" Trump and Rosie "Fat-Ugly-Bitch" O'Donell. Who for no apparent reason other than their own deperate need to be noticed, decided to duke it out(or would that be dyke it out?) over a trivial and largely forgettable event, the details of which I can't recall precisely, but I'm sure it was tripe.

Movie stars and pop-music "artists" do this a well. Yesterday I noted that the extremely ugly Ray Liotta was arrested for drunk driving and the article goes on to mention that, HEY he's got a new movie coming out, well what was the chances huh? Just the lastest in a long run of well planned runs with the law to coincide with movie release dates by Hollywood.

Later I found out that The Black Hole of Talent, Britney Spears, who has been on a NOTICE ME rampage ever since the world at large woke up to that fact that her main talent wasn't singing, was entering rehab, the day after having shaved and tattooed her goard of a head. I suppose the fact that she has made millions shaking her money maker isn't enough to satify her, she now feels the need to take the Mariah Carey model of "go crazy for fun and profit" route.

The saddest part of all of this is that the news media treats this sort of thing and if it were important and wastes valuable seconds of my life by telling me about it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go check on the latest info about the Anna-Nicole Smith case...I'm guessing, she's still dead.

2007

2007-01-01T21:02:00.001-05:00

Clean Slate...nice.

Should Old What Be Huh?

2006-12-31T18:27:00.000-05:00

On this last day of 2006, it occurs to me that I'm not getting any younger.

Now that shouldn't really come as a shock to me or a news-flash to anyone. None of us are getting younger, but I really felt the age this past year.

Things hurt that didn't used to, and for the first time, I really noticed that I can't do as much as I used to do. This bothers me, because I still have as much if not more to do.

This age thing also bothers me because I realized that I have forgotten what it's like to have a dream, or to look forward to something.

Not having anything to look forward to is probably the leading cause of people getting old and bitter, and frankly I'm not ready for that. I don't like thinking like and old person, and I hate feeling and looking like an old person.

For that reason, among others, I have decided to resolve that 2007 is going to be the year that I crawl out of my rut and find myself a dream(or two) again.(in the movies, this would be a good place to break into song)

Now, I don't really know what shape this hypothetical dream will take, because I'm going to have to do some soul-searching to find a dream...I'm sure I have a spare soul lying about somewhere.

Heck, I guess what I'm trying to say is, for a long time, I've let circumstances dictate how I felt and the worse the circumstances, the worse I felt. But I've come to realize that circumstances will always be somthing, and letting things get to me is just making me less happy and more old, and like I said...I'm not ready for that.

So let old whatever be something, something...this boy has better things to do than worry about a world he has no control over anyway!

So What?

2006-12-30T22:03:00.000-05:00

At long last I have collected my thoughts enough about the Democrat take-over of Congress to finally write about it.

My first thought is; Good for them.

They didn't earn the win mind you, but good for them anyway.

The Republicans did a lousy job of running the Congress and deserved to lose, in fact they worked harder to lose than the Democrats worked to win.

But the Democrats won and they will be running things, at least until 2008.

If they are very stupid, they will resume their old tax and spend policies, the ones that got them unceremoniously booted from power in 1994. If they are smart...um, well, nevermind, they aren't likely to be.

As for you Republicans who masqueraded as Conservatives to get elected; goodbye, you will not be missed. In fact, Saddam Hussein will be missed more than the departing Congression Refakelicans.

I suspect, that the Republican party has lost it's hold on the South, not because we have suddenly become liberal Democrats, but because we have been betrayed for the last time by Republicans in Conservative clothing. These fake-Conservatives who play lip service to our beliefs and laugh up their sleeves at us igderant rednecks who kept electing them like fools. Conservative ideals didn't lose on election day, lying Republicans did.

As for me, I've given up on politics. I've matured enough to realize now that there is no hope for a nation run by corporate-owned politicians, whether they claim to be Republicans or Democrats.

Our ruling class is corrupt, our working-class is on life-support and anyone who thinks that their economic status in this current climate is safe, is clueless. Foreign invaders are breaking our laws with impunity. Foreign governments own our debt. Our manufacturing base has been crushed, our wage scale is declining. Corporations that for years used the South as a base for low-wage, low-skill labor have used up these workers and abandoned them for greener pa$ture$ in China. Globalism, the new weasel-word for wage-slavery, has become the catch-phrase for the 21st century. Don't ever forget dear Democrats that it was your Messiah, Bill Clinton that signed that first "free trade" bill, with the help of Republicans pretending to be Conservatives, setting in motion this Con-job-Economy we find ourselves stuck in.

Democrats are now talking about bringing back the draft, so they will have a fresh pool of conscripted servants to fight wars for Wal-Mart's interests overseas.

If there are any honest politicians, and I doubt seriously that there are, they have an unenviable task ahead of them. This country isn't just heading in the wrong direction, we have leapt into an abyss heading in the wrong direction!

Sorry to be such a major bummer on the day before New Year's Eve, but I had to get it out of my system. In lighter news, Saddam Hussein is dead.

I promise that tomorrow I will begin blogging on a lighter note.

Get out and push.

2006-11-11T13:46:00.002-05:00

Senator Hillary Clinton watched Monday as tug boats attempt to pull the U.S.S. Intrepid from the mud.

I'm not sure why she was there, perhaps she thought she could help, since it's obvious that she has a face that could make a frieght train take a dirt road, or back a hound-dog off a gut wagon. (those are ways we have in the South of saying she's one ugly bitch!)

Anyway, it didn't work, they ended up having to call in the Navy. I'm sure theres a joke in that also, but I just don't care anymore.

"Move damn you MOVE!"

"I HATE BUSH!" is not a plan.

2006-11-10T15:14:00.000-05:00

You might have heard, there was an election recently. As most expected, the Democrats had gains in the Congress which has given them control of both houses after a 12 year gap. Prior to that, the Democrats pretty much ran the House of Representatives and the Senate for the majority of the 50 years period before 1994, with the exception of the Senate for a brief time.

During that 50 or so year period during which Democrats controlled the Congress (and sometimes the White House) there were no fewer than three wars, one of which was extremely unpopular, large tax increases, followed by record spending and huge budget deficits. Scandals and corruption were commonplace, remember the Gerry Studds affair, the House bank scandal, Barney Frank's good-time male escort service, Ted Kennedy's driving school for dummies, the House post office scandal among others? Without rehashing every sorrid detail, suffice to say, Congress under Democrat control was rotten to the very core and that is why with much hard work, conservatives and moderates were able to finally free the nation of that particular malady in 1994.

So unless Democrats have changed a lot in those 12 years, and I've seen no evidence that they have, we're in for a re-run of the good old, bad old days. But then again, Bush is really a Liberal, especially when it comes to spending, so perhaps nothing will change.

Of course, spending wasn't the "big issue", the war in Iraq was. For the record, when it comes to solving that particular problem, "I hate Bush" is not a plan, it's a slogan. It's good for winning elections, not so much for winning a war.

I did better this time.

2006-11-09T21:57:00.000-05:00

I decided to try that celebrity look-alike thing again with a "better"(better being a relative term) picture. The results are somewhat better this time, as I can actually see a resemblence between myself and some of the celebs. Though that pesky Ben Stiller showed up again and is Jared Leto really Courtney Cox?

As for the results of the recent elections, I'm withholding my take on that until all the dust settles. Can't say I'm especially surprised by the results, but I think when I do have my say about it, it will be something of a surprise. Especially considering it will be from a self-described conservative.

You'll just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, on with the trivial pursuits!

http://www.myheritage.com

I'm Skeptical

2006-11-07T22:28:00.000-05:00

Nothing else important going on, so I tried this "which celebrity do you look like" thing. Admittedly, it's a terrible picture of me...most pictures of me are quite bad. But I'm not sure I buy the results, not that I'm complaining...I just hope that Tom Cruise doesn't think I look like Katie Holmes! Brrr...disturbing!

http://www.myheritage.com

Lose / Lose Situation.

2006-10-23T13:00:00.000-04:00

With a mid-term election hurtling towards us like an asteroid bent on causing Global ~~Warming~~ destruction, it's time for my highly inaccurate and completely made-up predictions!

Prediction #1 - If Democrats fail to win the House and Senate, there will be reports of widespread voter fraud and such.

Prediction #2 - If Democrats do win, it will be reported that the will of the American people has been done and that conservatives have been defeated.

Neither statement will be true.

Bill Clinton is a Jackass.

2006-09-26T10:22:00.001-04:00

Just an observation...Oh, and here's a video of the former President being interviewed by Chris Wallace.

He doth protest too much,...methinks!

I guess Clinton still thinks it's all about him, for the record it's not. It's about an ongoing undeclared war against the United States by a band of thugs who strike at us in the name of their "god". They did it on Clinton's watch, they've done it on Bush's watch and there is little reason to think they won't do it again on someone else's watch. Bill Clinton was caught with his pants dow....um, unaware I mean!

Clinton can wag his fleshy finger in the face of an interviewer and blame the FBI or the CIA or the OSI or the AFL/CIO! He can claim a vast right-wing media conspiracy until he's blue in the face and it won't change the fact that he failed to protect this country, just as Bush has failed to protect this country. He failed because he is an arrogant, self-absorbed ASSHOLE. Not an uncommon problem with most politicians.

Clinton and his former administration members who have spammed TV shows of recent days make the former President look even more like a Jackass than he already did. Sorry Bill, but you can't take credit for all the good but attempt to place the blame for the bad on others.

Jackass.

Never Forget. Never Again.

2006-09-11T07:47:00.000-04:00

In case you've forgotten.

Pluto No Longer a Planet, Still No Decision on Goofy!

2006-08-24T10:21:00.000-04:00

Well, it you haven't heard, scientists have declared that Pluto, the underdog of the Solar System in no longer to be considered a planet. Oddly enough only a week or so ago, scientists were announcing that our Solar System might contain as many as 12 Planets, now we're down to only 8, scientists say.

No comment as of yet from Former Vice President and expert on everything, Al Gore, as to what could have caused the destruction of Pluto's planetary status.

In other news, still no word as to what the heck Goofy is, it would probably take a scientist to explain it anyway.

I -81 / Me Nothing!

2006-07-20T17:51:00.000-04:00

I really don't like driving on Interstate 81 through Virginia, although I do have to do it from time to time, I truly despise the 3 hours I am on this asphalt demon coughed up from the bowels of highway Hell.

It's not so much the road itself I don't like, it's a good enough road what with its bridges and rumple-strips and such. And it's not as though the scenery isn't pretty, I'm told that the scenery through the mountains of Virginia is actually quite nice...not that I'd ever get to see it since my attention is on the 14 thousand tons of tractor trailer trucks bearing down on me at any given time.

My solo trip on 81 from Staunton to Hagerstown in Maryland was especially harrowing today as every frikkin' transfer truck on the east coast was out for a spin on I-81 today. Not content with going 65, the posted limit, I drove 75 most of the way...the truck drivers wanted to go 85.

Aside from the big trucks, I also encountered a nest of school buses, which I guess were being delivered to someone. I guessing they were going to someplac in Quebec, since the lettering on them was all in French, or some language that looks a lot like French, could have been Spanish I suppose. School buses, all over the road, one of them was towing a van, for the return trip no doubt. Oh and there were dump trucks, my God! All shapes and sizes of dump trucks! I've seen quarries with less dump truck traffic, big ones, small ones, hell, there was even a flatbed transfer truck carrying a dump truck!

Before today, I thought the worst drivers ever came from North Carolina. But no, now I realize that the truly worst ones are from New Jersey, as everytime a car was weaving in and out of bumper-to-bumper traffic at 90 miles an hour, it seemed to have a New Jersey plate on it.

Ah, and my day couldn't have been complete without my old nemesis the motorcyclists. Yes God there were motorcycles, dozens of 'em. I for one, am already of the opinion that you've gotta be a little messed up in the head to ride one of these things. But to ride one on I-81 takes a special brand of crazy! I'm uncomfortable in anything less than a sherman tank on this road!

My biggest gripe with I-81 has to be the rest areas in Virginia, which are fine enough if "resting" is all you want to do. The rest area for example on 81N at New Market, Va. is quite scenic and well groomed, with flower beds buzzing with butterflies and bumblebees, a gorgeous view of the mountains, lots of picnic areas and trees and vending machines, really beautiful. But considering that "rest stop" is really a euphemism for "place to take a piss", one would think that the state would pay a little more attention to the bathroom facilities!

This particular men's room was to filth what hot is to the sun. Upon entering, I detected two things immediately:

One - The foul stench.
Two - The number of urinals and sinks marked OUT OF ORDER.

Having no alternative, I found a stall that was unoccupied. Upon entering, aside from noticing the sticky floor, dirty seat and that the previous occupant had failed to flush, I noted that due to the narrowness of the stall, in order to close the door, I had to straddle the toilet, turn slightly shutting the door as far as possible, then back up to close and latch it. After which I then proceeded with my business, careful not to touch anything while simultaneously holding my breath and trying not to vomit.

After completely my "business" (thanking God that it was only the stand-up kind), I used my foot to flush the toilet and then repeated the straddle/turn to exit from the tiny stall. Finding the one of three sinks that actually had running water, I vigorously washed my hands, only to find that only one of the hand dryers/blowers actually functioned. So I hurried out of the "rest room" wiping my damp hands on my shirt and fought the urge to roll around in the dirt to try to make myself feel clean again.

Hopping back into my car, I was off to the races again on I-81 for the remainder of my drive, dodging such vehicles as NASCAR NEXTEL CUP driver Ryan Newman's car hauler, which is shiny and mirrored, so at least I could see myself. Also various U-Haul and Penske rent-a-trucks, farm equipment, campers, trucks with boats, one being a pick-up with a small trailer carrying only two boat seats and a van with "WAR EAGLE" on the back window...which made me laugh, yet I know not why.

Eventually, I reached my destination undamaged, save for the fingernail impressions in the steering wheel and for having six months worth of bejeesus scared out of me. All in all, a typical trip up Virginia's worst Interstate.

Mayor Bloomberg - America's Village Idiot

2006-07-08T19:33:00.000-04:00

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is an idiot. A lazy filthy rich spoiled idiot.

Now that may seem a bit harsh, but honestly, that's not even a tenth of how much I loathe this vile RINO (Republican In Name Only) spoiled rotten, Faux-Conservative Prick who runs America's largest city.

Bloomberg's comments earlier this week have stirred me out of my blogging slumber to officially declare the mayor; America's Village Idiot, and you thought it was someone else didn't you?

Bloomberg, the idiot, says this week that America's economy will collapse if we deport millions of illegal aliens.

Well first of all, Bloomberg knows it won't. What Bloomy really means is that rich assholes like he and his friends wouldn't have a vast pool of cheap labor to dip from, so as they can continue to line their pockets and live opulent lifestyles that would make a king blush. He repeats the lie which states that these illegals take the jobs that "Americans won't take. What he mean of course is that they work for a paultry sum that you and me can't afford to work for because we have insurance and taxes and mortgages. He claims that we are dependent on these illegal aliens whose first act in their "new country" is to break our immigration laws. Of course Bloomy wants you and me to believe that America's economy depends on these hardworking yet illegal saints. The truth is that illegal aliens are costing the taxpayers of the U.S. BILLIONS and are contributing far less. Bloomy knows this; he hopes that you do not.

Last month, I almost woke from my blogging slumber to admonish Idiot Bloomberg for his lawsuits against gun store owners in Virginia, filed because they weren't asking Bloomy's permission before selling guns in Virginia. Guns that were apparently ending up in NYC. To that I say, tough crackers! It isn't the job of gun store owners in Virginia to make certain that the guns they sell legally in Virginia aren't being taken into Bloomy's NYC.

Look at it this way Bloomy; those guns are the backbone of your city. Sure, they may have entered your city illegally, but now that they are there, you should embrace them and welcome them and make them legal. Besides, ridding your city of all those undocumented handguns would surely cause the economy of NYC to collapse!

Perhaps the most laughable part of all of this is that Michael Bloomberg surely has aspirations towards the White House. Just what we need, another phony conservative, RINO President!

Mexican Food For Thought.

2006-06-02T20:29:00.000-04:00

If it's true, as so many suggest, that illegal aliens are vital to our economy because the "take the jobs that Americans won't do", then what happens if we make those illegals citizens?

Then they'll be Americans and they'll no longer take those jobs. So then what?

Oils Well That Begins Well

2006-06-01T22:06:00.000-04:00

Today is the official start of *gasp* ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON! Everybody run and hide, the hurricane is gonna get ya!

Actually, as much as the scare-casters would like you to believe that *gasp* ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON is a new phenomenon brought on by evil American SUVs, those of us with memories longer than today's lunch menu know that severe weather is neither new nor man-made.

However I'm sure the fine folks who run BIG OIL are hoping for an active and violent *gasp* ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON! Afterall, the damage caused by last year's storms gave them all record net profits. That's a little tidbit of information that ought to scare you a lot more than the wearther forecast.

Television = Crap

2006-05-31T20:37:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I wonder why I pay over $50 a month for cable TV.

I'm sitting here for some reason watching a blonde bimbo bounce her way across the screen playing The Price Is Right at night, which I wouldn't even watch in the daytime. For some reason that I'm sure was explained at some point, this one is being hosted by Ricki The Hutt...I mean Ricki Lake. Supposedly, the contestents in this "special" Gameshow Marathon are celebrities.

"Z-list" celebrities such as Paige Davis from Trading Spaces...another annoying show, Lance Bass of N'SYNC and late of the Russian Space Program. The blonde bimbo is some Baywatch beauty, but not one that I recognize. The only person I actually recognized as a "celebrity" is Leslie Nielson, who looks a little confused. As am I.

Why am I watching this crap?

I think it may be time for television to go away.

Iran, Iran So Far Away, Oh Iran, Iran All Night And Day.

2006-05-16T12:53:00.001-04:00

In the U.S., we think we have problems.

True, we have a non-Conservative President who is kind of an idiot.

True, we have a spineless opposition party that still offers up the rejected policies they lost power touting.

True, we have a bias news-media, both left and right, which refuses to tell the truth either way.

But we're not Iran, and that is something we should be happy about. Because at least we're not led by Iranian President and insane funny-man Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which is pronounced, "A Martini Jed".

How about a "Week Without Whitey"?

2006-05-02T10:18:00.000-04:00

In response to yesterday's "DAY WITHOUT ILLEGAL ALIENS", how about all concerned Americans take part in a "Week Without Whitey"?

Now, I realize that "whitey" is a racist term, but since I am a white person, it's okay for me to use it, but you'd better not! And I also realize that not all Americans are white people, see my post about NBC's race baiting for more details.

But it occurs to me, that the target of the illegal invader's protests and those of commie-hugging looney left-wingers world-wide are largely white American men, because after all, white American men are responsible for all the world's ills since the day the Universe was formed.

Because whitey is so despised, I am suggesting a week-long boycott of all Mexican-owned, run and staffed businesses by whitey, also commonly referred to as "the Man". I believe that these businesses will welcome the opportunity to be rid of the Man. I think this is also an excellent chance to show the nation just how few of us white men there are, and how unimportant whitey’s money is to the national economy. It will also be a chance to show Congressional Whitey; the white men in Congress, how dispensable white male voters are when re-election time comes around.

Yes, a WEEK WITHOUT WHITEY could really be a good chance to show the world a little taste of what they are whining for. Please consider taking part in an all-out NATIONAL WHITE-OUT WEEK.

Now if I can just find some corporate backers for it...*

(*Please note that the above is considered an attempt at satirical humor and should not be taken seriously by anyone...or should it?)

NBC is off to the races on race.

2006-04-06T17:12:00.000-04:00

NBC, the network that put a lit bottle rocket in a fuel tank to prove that a Ford pick-up would explode if hit in a side impact while carrying a lit bottle-rocket in the fuel tank, is at it again. Attempting to manufacture news. That is to say attempting to create a story where none exists.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NASCAR said it was "outrageous" that "Dateline NBC" targeted one of its race tracks last weekend for a possible segment on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.

NASCAR said NBC confirmed it was sending Muslim-looking men to a race, along with a camera crew to film fans' reactions. The NBC crew was "apparently on site in Martinsville, Va., walked around and no one bothered them," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Wednesday.

"It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news," Poston said.

"Any legitimate journalist in America should be embarrassed by this stunt. The obvious intent by NBC was to evoke reaction, and we are confident our fans won't take the bait," he said.

NASCAR is in the final year of a broadcasting agreement with NBC Sports.

"'Dateline' is looking into this story," NBC said in a statement. "We were intrigued by the results of a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll and other articles regarding increasing anti-Muslim sentiments in the United States.

"It's very early on in our newsgathering process, but be assured we will be visiting a number of locations across the country and are confident that our reporting team is pursuing this story in a fair manner," it said.

Well the good news is that the people of south-western Virginia and NASCAR fans didn't take the bait. It's a shame that the folks at NBC can't get over what folks around here have been over for a long time; that being the fact that people who look different exist.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure why they thought that NASCAR fans would react to "Muslim-looking" people any differently than they would anyone else.

Having been to NASCAR races in the past, I can tell you that you're going to see quite a slice of Americana when you attend a racetrack. Weird-looking people are pretty much the order of the day, as are drunk people. If you sit low enough in the stands, you are going to get chicken bones and beer cans thrown at you, no matter what you look like, so always buy the high seats.

It's also a shame that this area, which has been devastated by the effects of Global "Un"Fair Trade, still has to deal with the stigma of racism and bigotry. Further shame that NBC never saw fit to send a news team here before to do a story about how the GREAT ECONOMY has missed some regions. But I guess that story doesn't fit their current agenda; that people in "red states" aren't quite as good as "blue staters".

I wonder if the fact that NBC is losing their lucrative NASCAR race coverage contract after this seaon has anything to do with their sudden interest in how fans react to people of other races? Perhaps if NBC had paid more attention to the races and less to race, they wouldn't be losing their race coverage rights?

Meanwhile, the people of the South continue to be punished for the actions of slave-owning rich people, long dead. Thanks to organizations like NBC - NATIONAL BIGOTS CLUB.

Watch out for snakes!

2006-03-10T06:40:00.000-05:00

The Dubai/Ports deal is off, so watch out! It might appear on the surface that this isn't going to happen. But the snakes are always trying to get inside the house. And snakes are persistent and they rarely use the front door.

Keep in mind that just hours before they pulled out of the ports deal, the United Arab Emirates was promising reprisals against us for rejecting their bid, then suddenly, they pulled out of the deal that they, BushCo and certain neo-con(ick) mouthpieces, were working so hard to convince us to accept.

It looks like they've given up, but never trust a snake.

Yeah, gotta always be on guard for snakes, whether they're the slithery, belly-crawling kind that slinks around looking for prey, or...come to think of it, there in no other kind!

The snakes will now regroup and do their best to change our thinking; despite the fact that for once the American people spoke and our lawmakers actually responded.

One of the ways they're going to try to change our thinking is with anecdotes which they hope will convince us that they are right and we are wrong. One of those anecdotes was the old "Buggy Whip Myth" which I wrote about last summer, but another favorite anecdote is the "Poor Widdle Boeing" tale. Just as when they tried to convince us that "free trade" and "globalism" was good for us, using the "B.W.M." analogy, they'll try to do the same with the ports deal and other deals like it, by using Boeing and other stories of corporate woe.

Here's how the Boeing story goes, it's that some country, in this case the UAE, will decide to buy it's new planes from Airbus instead of from Boeing because dey gots deys widdle feewings aw hurt, boo hoo hoo oh boo the hoo!

Well, to borrow an attitude from the corporate world, "So what? SCREW 'EM!"

It's not the responsibility of the citizens of the U.S. of A. to sell out their rights, their property and their jobs to foreign investors so that Boeing or any other multi-billion dollar corporation can sell more planes or backhoes or nose-hair pluckers! If Boeing can't compete in a "global" marketplace against a bunch of smelly french airplanes, then that's THEIR PROBLEM, not ours!

I wonder did Boeing or any other giant corporation stop to worry when the "free-trade" policies of the U.S. started destroying the lives of individuals in this country? Did they concern themselves as entire industries were exported to India or China or Pakistan? I somehow think not.

So if those be-turbaned ones who run the UAE decide to punish Boeing or some other giant corporation, for something that the Congress and the American people did, then that shows exactly what kind of people we were dealing with, doesn't it? Frankly, the whole batch of them, BushCo, Boeing and the UAE can all go have sexual relations with themselves for all I care.

The fact is, a lot of people simply don't feel comfortable with UAE running our ports and I'm one of them. For the first time in a very long time, our lawmakers in Washington, at least a large number of them, seemed to be on OUR side for a change. I am unapologetically giddy with the feeling; I don't expect it to last long unfortunately. Because there is always another snake looking for a hole in the wall.

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

2006-03-04T12:06:00.000-05:00

Yep, someone in our government is certifiable.

The people, person, mad scientist, evil computer brain, or whatever it is that is currently running the Government of the United States of America, is insane. Completely bonkers.

In the troubled times that we live in, with war, job loss, inflation, health care concerns and the host of other problems that are facing us, what is our government doing with our money?

They're investing in perfecting mind-control, of sharks.

Wait, read that again; MIND CONTROL....of SHARKS!

Yes, this is the government mind you, that says it can't do anything about illegal immigrants crossing our southern border. This is the government that can't spare the time to check every single cargo container that enters our ports. This is the government that can't find a way to ever actually cut it's own budget, but has found, God only knows how much money, to allow the Pentagon to finance research into "Stealth Sharks"!

Bush's response no doubt; "Trust me"!

PARIS (AFP) - The
Pentagon is reportedly funding research into neural implants with the ultimate hope of turning sharks into "stealth spies" capable of gliding undetected through the ocean.

According to the British weekly New Scientist, the research builds on experimental work to control animals by implanting tiny electrodes in their brain, which are then stimulated to induce a behavioral response.

"The Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails," says the report, carried in next Saturday's New Scientist.

"By remotely guiding the sharks' movements they hope to transform the animals into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted."

The unusual project is being funded by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which pioneered the Internet as a platform for robust communications.

Scientists involved in the scheme presented their work last week at a meeting on Ocean Sciences in Honolulu, Hawaii, according to the report.

A team at Boston University have implanted electrodes into the brain of a spiny dogfish in a shallow tank.

The implants, controlled by a small radio transmitter, stimulate either the right or left side of a brain area dedicated to smell, causing the fish to flick around in that direction in response to the signal.

The next step will be to take this device outside the laboratory. Blue sharks implanted with the gadget are to be released off the coast of Florida.

As radio signals will not penetrate the sea, communications with the fish will be made through US Navy acoustic towers capable of sending sonar signals to a shark up to 300 kilometers (187 miles) away.

Other DARPA-funded researchers are working on using implants to record brain activity in sharks in order to understand which neurons are fired by scents, electrical or magnetic fields.

These signals help the fish to navigate and offer the reward of food, and could thus in theory be manipulated for surveillance work.

New Scientist says the DARPA work is controversial, but also points out that work with animal implants also has a potential benefit for medicine.

Understanding more about the brain's electrical signals could one day result in implants to control a prosthetic limb to overcome paralysis.

So what's next? Sharks with frikkin' laser beams on their heads? Perhaps ill-tempered sea-bass?

You just have to wonder what kind of minds we have in government who would approve something like this, much less think it up in the first place?

I wonder if they could perhaps train the sharks to stop illegal immigration, fight the war on drugs or maybe even to run our sea ports?

Oh....goody...

2006-03-02T11:29:00.000-05:00

I feel so much better now...not.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former president
Bill Clinton has privately advised Dubai officials how to address US political concerns over a controversial ports deal, as his wife, Senator
Hillary Clinton, publicly attacks the deal.

Dubai Ports World bid to takeover Britain's P and O, which runs terminal operations at six major US ports, has triggered a political firestorm in the United States.

Senator Clinton has voiced vigorous opposition to the 5.7-billion-euro (6.8-billion-dollar) takeover, saying it threatens US national security.

She is attempting to push legislation through Congress that seeks to block the deal, partly on the grounds that DP World is foreign-government owned.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported Thursday her husband -- who it said was paid 300,000 dollars in 2002 to address a summit in Dubai -- has advised Dubai officials how to soothe US concerns over the deal.

"Mr. Clinton, who this week called the United Arab Emirates a 'good ally to America,' advised Dubai's leaders to propose a 45-day delay to allow for an intensive investigation of the acquisition," the FT said, citing a spokesman for the ex president.

DP World has agreed with the White House to undertake a more lengthy review process of the deal, despite already received government approval for it to proceed.

The takeover would see DP World run ports at Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia.

A court in London was due to give a ruling on Wednesday on the legality of DP World's takeover of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

Funny or Not Funny Floating?

2006-02-28T12:49:00.001-05:00

FUNNY OR NOT FUNNY FLOATING: Rush Limbaugh defending George W. Bush and his port deal with the United Arab Emirates, while floating, funny or not funny?

Funny, but impossible.

Ten years ago, radio personality and one-time champion of all things conservative, Rush Limbaugh would have been all over this UAE/American Ports deal like white on rice, um, er,...I mean, like stink on sh....oh never mind. Suffice to say that when Bill Clinton was President, Rush Limbaugh would have opposed this deal which would hand over control of six U.S. ports to a corporation owned by the United Arab Emirates.

I know he would have, even though he claims today that he wouldn't. But my memory isn't addled by abusing oxycontin and God know what else, and I remember the way Rush used to be, when he still was for Americans and not just another worthless shill for the White House.

CBS - Back in the News Business?

2006-02-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

On The Waterfront

The folks at 60 Minutes, a CBS news magazine, have redeemed themselves somewhat in my eyes.

The show had really hit a low point when they built a story around George W. Bush's military service or lack thereof. Like that matters.

But their redemption is at hand. The once hard-hitting news program has hit a timely nail on the head and taken a stab at Bush all in the same night.

The article, On The Waterfront, linked above, taken from the story on Sunday night's show, should be read by everyone. It details how America's ports are "the soft underbelly of globalization." It goes on to explain that this is not so much a problem of who runs the ports as it is a problem with how the ports are run and a lack of security overall.

But again I have to offer this question in all seriousness; knowing that the ports aren't secure now, does having the United Arab Emirates running our ports make the chance of terrorists using those ports for staging grounds for terror less likely, or more likely?

---------------

Old King Coal?

And on the same night, 60 minutes offered another timely segment, which in someways could make the UAE stand up and take notice along with all of their neighbors in the middle east.

That being the plan by the Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana, to gasify coal in order to lessen or eventually END America's dependency on oil. Or as Gov. Schweitzer put it;

"Why wouldn’t we create an economic engine that will take us into the next century, and let those sheiks and dictators and rats and crooks from all over the world boil in their own oil?".

"Hugo Chavez, the Saudi royal family, the leaders of Iran, how about the countries that end with 'stan'? Nigeria? You tell me. Sheiks, rats, crooks, dictators, sure."

You know I gotta love this guy with language like that! Any chance this guy will run for president? Because he just got my vote, I don't care which party he belongs to!

And just in case you don't know, the technology to gasify coal already exists, it is cleaner than regular diesel made from oil and, according to an earlier 60 minutes segment, there is already a 250-year supply of coal lying on top of the ground, not being used.

So Mr. Bush, if you're serious about ending our "addiction" to oil, as you have said, here's your way. Will you step up? (I'm not holding my breath)

The Sum of all Fears

2006-02-24T11:05:00.000-05:00

I don't know why, but for some reason, I found this article linked below to be relevent to the current argument over the United Arab Emirates imminent takeover of six U.S. ports. See if you find anything in it which concerns you.

Threats to Oil Transport

Okay, back now? That was really little type wasn't it? But worth the read I think. It took me like two minutes on a Google search(on dial-up) to find this and about a dozen other articles online. All of the articles refer to the terrorist's fondness for disrupting transportation routes, such as ports for example. This is the line that really caught me eye.

"Since half of America's oil is imported, terror organizations like al-Qaeda and its affiliates can disrupt the free flow of crude oil into the U.S. by cutting oil transportation routes. Disruption of oil flows through any of these routes could have a significant impact on global oil prices."

Do we really want a government owned company, from a country that until recently recognized The Taliban, to have ANYTHING to do with the day-to-day operations of our ports? Perhaps our most vunerable spot? Is it a coincidence that one of the ports that handles a large number of oil shipment from the middle-east, New Orleans, happens to be one of the ports in the UAE takeover list?

Then there is the potential to simply use the cargo containers which are placed on tractor trailers (and rarely inspected) as over the road bombs, driven to whatever destination and triggered by some remote device without the driver's knowledge.

And true, any of these things could happen now, given the overall poor security at our borders and ports. But ask yourself, does the UAE takeover of six U.S. ports make these events less or more likely to occur?

Now of course all of this is speculation. But none of it is exactly hard to imagine, keeping in mind that at one time, the idea of using passenger airliners as guided missles was also hard to imagine.

The Port of No Return.

2006-02-23T11:19:00.000-05:00

Sorry folks, but we’re in trouble.

Our President George W. Bush is completely out of touch and quite possibly out of his mind!

Yes, I voted for him, twice, mainly because the alternative was so bad both times. But given his recent behavior, I can honestly say that I would never, NEVER have done it, if I knew then what I know now, if such a thing were possible.

Bush’s most recent foray into the realm of madness concerns the United Arab Emirates and it's bid to take control of six domestic ports. I find this to be yet another example of how far off Bush is from the base that elected him and just how warped he and his “neocon”(God I hate that word) cronies are.

Now I’ll be the first to admit, that I had no idea how America’s ports were run. I didn’t know that the ports were run by foreign companies, I don’t suppose I really needed to know considering that I have no day to day dealings with shipping and live two hundred miles inland. But I wish I had known earlier, then I could have fussed about it years ago.

During the elections, Bush talked the talk of a true conservative, “a tough on security, working class, aw shucks conservative“, but as I’ve mentioned before, he simply cannot walk the walk. Bush claims to be all about security, but this port deal screams of insecurities.

Only a tiny percentage of the millions of tons of freight, which pass through U.S. ports are actually being inspected. Anything, I mean ANYTHING, could be in those thousands and thousands of unchecked cargo containers even now. But even so, now Bush feels that it’s okay to allow a company owned by an Arab country to have control of our ports. Even in my poor little town 200 miles inland, a town crippled by the Clinton and Bush policies, we understand what a potential for diaster this is.

It's not that I’m accusing the UAE of being a terrorist country or of even wanting to damage the U.S. economically. But I do know that there are those in the UAE that would like to damage us, economically and otherwise. It just seems to me that giving the UAE such a foothold in our nation is simply an open invitation for terrorists who will not only have motive, but now the means to cause complete havoc here.

Of course, Bush might be right. The UAE company might be able to run these ports securely, but given how often Bush isn’t right, I’d hate to find out he’s wrong again while watching a mushroom cloud consume Baltimore or New Orleans. Aside from the staggering human loss that would cause, the economic impact would be equally disasterous. You think the price of oil is high now? How much more damaging than a hurricane would a nuclear blast in the gulf coast be?

But Bush, once again, is arrongantly myopic in his stance. He refuses to acknowledge the concerns of millions and millions of American citizens (does he remember us?) and insists on his usual refrain of “Trust Me”, made famous during his nomination of Harriet Myers for the Supreme Court.

Well NO Mister Bush, I don’t trust you. You haven’t done one thing to earn my trust. You’ve plunged this nation into a war without end. You’ve turned your back on the plight of the hardworking blue-collar south, which elected you. You’ve ignored the epidemic of illegal invaders from Mexico while making plans to grant them amnesty. And you’ve allowed your oil-buddies to screw us to the wall financially. I could list more, but I’m embarrassed to because I helped you do it by voting for you. Furthermore, how can we trust the UAE to have our best interests at heart when our own President doesn't!

In my opinion, allowing a UAE owned company to operate American ports makes about as much sense as hiring Michael Jackson to baby-sit your 8-year old son. Sure I know United Arab Emirates is an ally in the “War on Terror”, I also know that alliances can fall apart and sometimes can be forged for ulterior motives.

But I am encouraged to see some Republicans, joined by some Democrats, finally standing up to Bush and speaking out for the American citizens, and our concerns for a change. It’s about time! I’m disgusted on the other hand, by those politicians, like Jimmy Carter and Bob Dole, who defend this port deal.

It’s becoming so clear that BushCo does not care about the American people. They only care about trade deals and corporate interests. They are not serious on National Security and they care squat about hardworking Americans.

America, we are in trouble.

The Point of No Return

2006-02-07T12:50:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I read something so eloquent, so much like what I would write, if I only had the words, that I can just sit back and cut & paste...

Point of no return

By Thomas Sowell

Looking back at the history of tragic times often reveals that many — or most — of the people of those times were often preoccupied with things that look trivial, or even pathetic, in view of the catastrophe looming over them. Will later generations looking back at our times see a similar blindness, and even frivolousness, in the face of mortal dangers?

Terrorists and terrorist governments are giving us almost daily evidence of their fanatical hatred and violent sadism, as the clock ticks away toward their gaining possession of nuclear weapons. They not only hold a harmless young woman hostage in Iraq, they parade her in tears on television, just as they have paraded not only the terrorizing, but even the beheading, of others on television.

Moreover, there is a large and gleeful audience in the Arab world for these gross brutalities, just as there was glee and cheering among the Palestinians when the televised destruction of the World Trade center was broadcast in the Middle East.

Yet what are we preoccupied with or outraged about? Whether the American government should intercept the phone calls of these cutthroats to people in the United States.

That question has been sanitized in the mainstream media by asking whether the government should be engaged in "domestic wiretapping," just as the terrorists themselves have been sanitized into "militants" or "insurgents."

The way the question is posed by many in the media and in politics, you would think our intelligence agencies were listening in on you talking on the phone to your aunt Mabel.

Be serious! There are more than a quarter of a billion people in the United States. Intelligence agencies have neither the manpower, the time, the money, nor the interest to listen in on you and your aunt Mabel.

Lawyers may differ on fine legal points about the Constitutional powers of the commander in chief during wartime versus the oversight powers of the courts. But, a Supreme Court Justice once pointed out that the Constitution of the United States is not a suicide pact.

The Constitution was meant for us to live under, not be paralyzed by, in the face of death.

When some honcho in the international terrorist network is captured in Afghanistan or Iraq, and the phone numbers in his computer are found by his American captors, it is only a matter of time before his capture becomes news broadcast around the world.

In the hour or two before that happens, his contacts within the United States may continue to use the phones they have been using. Listening in on their conversations during that brief window of opportunity can provide valuable information on enemies within our midst who are dedicated to our destruction.

Precious time can be wasted filing legalistic documents to get some judge's permission to tap the domestic terrorists' phones before CBS or CNN broadcasts the news of the captured terrorist leader overseas and the domestic terrorists stop using the phones that they had used before to talk with him.

With Iran advancing step by step toward nuclear weapons, while the Europeans wring their hands and the United Nations engages in leisurely discussion, this squeamishness about tapping terrorists' phone contacts in the United States is grotesque.

Has anyone been paying attention to the audacity of the terrorists? Some in the media seem mildly amused that Palestinian terrorists are threatening Denmark because of editorial cartoons that they found offensive.

Back in the 1930s, some people were amused by Hitler, whose ideas were indeed ridiculous, but by no means funny.

This was not the first threat against a Western country for exercising their freedom in a way that the Islamic fanatics did not like. Osama bin Laden threatened the United States on the eve of our 2004 elections, if we didn't vote the way he wanted.

When he has nuclear weapons, such threats cannot be ignored, when the choice is between knuckling under or seeing American cities blasted off the face of the earth.

That is the point of no return — and we are drifting towards it, chattering away about legalisms and politics.

Amen Dr. Sowell.

Not that I approve of eavedropping, but I really think the Loud Left has blown this WAY out of proportion. I guess they want us all to think that Bush, Rove, Rumsfeld and Cheney are personally sitting in a little smokey room listening in on hundreds of thousands of telephone conversations and making little notes, sweating and giggling.

Frankly, I don't think the Government is all that interested in my phone calls, most of which sound something like this. "Yeah, um huh...what? Oh...okay, I dunno."

Beep Beep!

2006-02-06T10:38:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid, a lot of busy-body bleeding hearts were concerned because the Road Runner would sometimes cause Wile E. Coyote to fall off a cliff or get blown up by his latest ACME gadget of the week. They said it was warping our poor little minds and turning us all into savages.

Right now, around the world, hundreds of thousand if not millions of people of a certain religion are ready to chop people's heads off and commit other untold atrocities because of a few, very tame, drawings. Not even really cartoons, just drawings. Now people are dying, burning buildings, wrecking havoc...over a drawing. Ink on paper...A DRAWING!

I'll bet those people didn't even see Road Runner when they were kids. Maybe they'd have been better off if they had?

Offensive drawings? Not even that offensive from what I've seen, but even if they are, so what? I mean who is hurt by a drawing?

Now if you want offensive images? I have some doozies for you!

What would these folks do it they had, say a nuclear weapon at their disposal right now? If you think for a moment that they aren't that serious, then you have learned nothing.

Mmmmmmmm Oily...

2006-01-31T14:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, I was never good in math, I admit that, and that's probably why the news story that Exxon/Mobil Corp. posted record profits in the last quarter confuses me. Numbers and word problems upset me.

You see, I'm pretty sure that the excus...I mean the "reason" given for the surge in gas and oil prices was that the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged refineries in the gulf region, and also caused extensive damage to the oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. So as the supply was interrupted, allegedly, the demand remained the same and therefore the prices increased, right?

But now Exxon/Mobile posts record profits, but didn't they claim the supply was short? How do you make record profits on a short supply? And since they are making record profits now does that mean that the supply has been restored to pre-hurricane levels? And if that is so...why haven't prices at the pump returned to pre-hurricane levels?

Could it be that damage to that particular industry wasn't as severe as we were led to believe and OWWW!

Oh, wait a second...I think I may haven't gotten a little too close to some truth and it burns!

Shortage in supply? Expensive damage? Record profits? It just don't add up!

Hmmmmm? Oily isn't it?

Pamela Anderson is a Dumb Cluck!

2006-01-28T13:56:00.000-05:00

Pamela Anderson will always be known for two things, neither of which is her acting ability or her intellect.

Pamela Anderson is on a crusade to stamp out cruelty to chickens, chickens which are about to be slaughtered for food. Her latest tactic to achieve this; she wants to do it by having a bust removed. No not that bust! This time it's a bust of Colonel Harland Saunders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I think Pamela Anderson needs something to do.

When I was younger, a child in fact, if I was getting out of hand or on my Mother's nerves, she'd usually say something to the effect of; "If you've got energy enough to get into trouble, then you've got energy enough to clean your room", or wash the car, or paint the yard...um, anyway, I think this is Pamela Anderson's problem. She needs something to do, maybe like a real job?

Ms. Anderson obviously has no talents other than the silicon store-bought variety, and therefore, she isn't in demand much, as her talents are starting to age and wane. So in order to keep her name in the news, she has to resort to picking on the dead Colonel’s bust. People who have jobs and mortgages and families have no time to sit around and wonder how a chicken they are having for dinner was treated prior to it's status as food. In fact, I dare say that intelligent people without those things have better things to think about than whether or not the chicken was made comfortable prior to it's beheading.

Pamela Anderson is a dumb cluck, and PETA is looking more and more like a ridiculous organization of half-wits with too much time and money on their hands.

Ms. Anderson has also called for a boycott against Kentucky Fried Chicken; a company which employ's thousands of Americans. But I suggest that a more useful boycott would be against Ms. Anderson and the TV shows and movies that she stars in. It shouldn't really be too hard to do, I suspect that most people aren't watching her anyway, which is why she's so desperate for attention that she would lend herself to such a nonsensical farce.

Ms. Anderson, you vacuous, pole-dancing, flotation device, leave the Colonel alone! At the least the Colonel's bust is real!

Get a job!

Truth? Justice? The American Way?

2006-01-24T22:36:00.000-05:00

In one of the more baffling developments in my life, the Commonwealth of Virginia has seen fit in it’s Infinite Wisdom, to select me to serve as a potential juror for the months of January and February. Now I’m sure you can all tell that I am absolutely thrilled to be selected!(Please insert appropriate amount of sarcasm)

Last week, during the first actual jury selection, I continued to beat the odds, by not only being selected on the first go round, but also making it through the second round and being seated with the rest of the Quorum of the Twelve to hear that day’s case. Yippee, I’ll never win the lottery, but I have an uncanny knack for getting picked for this sort of thing. Then again on today during what was for me, only the second time a jury was selected on one of my scheduled days, dang if they didn't pick me again!

So far I've participated in two trials. It's interesting I guess, in the same way that a car accident or fire is. The first trial ended with two not guilty verdicts and a mistrial on a third verdict, even though the defendant was almost certainly guilty. The judge even referred to us as a "hung jury", I don't know how he knew. :) Turns out the guy got nailed the next day for more serious charges.

The second trial I was part of, ended in a guilty verdict all around and then we had to set sentencing for the crime.

It's strange to sit in judgement of your fellow man. It's not as easy as you might think and not really fun. I can't help but wonder, "who am I" to decide the fate of another person? But I must say that despite my reservations and downright anger at being selected, I believe that I have performed admirably and am impressed that despite some flaws, our judicial system does in fact work and is incredibly fair to the accused, almost to the point of pandering.

As the judge told us on our first day of orientation, our justice system is unique in the world. Here a suspect is presumed innocent and is not required to provide any evidence or testimony to back up that presumption. Here the state or prosecution must provide the proof of guilt. Even if found guilty the accused has rights upon rights and the sentences are often not terribly severe, even for repeat offenders.

Of course there is the little part about payment or jurors. Jury duty in Virginia only pays a measly $30 a day whether you sit there for an hour or for eight hours. This seems a little cheap to me. I wonder what the judge and lawyers make? Why shouldn't jury members, who do afterall end up being the ones who make the decisions, make at least somewhere near what the judge makes? It only seems fair, we are there by edict and not by choice. You could at least make it worth out trouble! But I guess these days, that's what they mean by truth(the evidence), justice(the trial) and the American way(getting it as cheap as possible).

Mmmmmmmm Chocolate City...

2006-01-17T22:29:00.000-05:00

Who can take his own foot and stick it in his mouth? Wiggle it around til something crazy comes out, the Mayor-man, the Mayor-man can. The Mayor-man can, cause he’s incompetent and out of his mind…

I was completely unimpressed with Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagan back when Hurricane Katrina struck his city. Unimpressed mainly because the man didn’t seem to really know what he was doing, but then again, it was quite a shocking and sweeping disaster and I suppose anyone could be forgiven for not seeming up to the task.

But now, months later, I find that my original perception of Mayor Ray Nagan was indeed correct. This man is a complete boob.

Can you imagine if a white Mayor of a major American city had made comments as idiotic and racially charged as Nagan’s? The man would be so lynched by now. Nagan of course, got some flack for his “Chocolate City” comments made on MLK-day, but then he made it worse with an even more idiotic “apology” to “explain” and even defend his racially offensive comments. Plus he’s pulling a Pat Robertson by claiming he now has special God-approved knowledge of how events happen and how God wants them to unfold.

From BBC News:

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has sought to clarify comments he made on Martin Luther King Day to the effect that New Orleans should be a "chocolate" city.

He said he had not meant that it should be an all-black metropolis, asking: "How do you make chocolate?

"You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about," he told CNN.

He also said last year's hurricanes were a sign God was angry with the US.

"Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Mr Nagin said on Monday.

"Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretences."

"But surely he is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves," said Mr Nagin, who is black.

He was giving a speech to mark the US holiday celebrating its most famous civil rights leader.

New Orleans was about two-thirds black before Hurricane Katrina caused many residents to flee last year.

Some advocates fear planned reconstruction will not encourage poor black residents to return, leaving the city more white than it was before.

First of all, that is NOT how you make chocolate, which is not a drink last time I checked. Furthermore Mayor Nagan, that is NOT what you meant and you know it and so do a lot of other people. If your assertion that God is mad at America is true, then it is far more likely that God is upset with how many American’s are engaging in behavior which is clearly ungodly, like looting for example or having children out of wedlock, than he is at America for getting pre-war W.M.D. intelligence reports wrong.

No Mayor Nagan, you meant exactly what you said. First of all, you hate George W. Bush and any opportunity to bash him you'll take. Secondly, and more importantly, you're scared because New Orleans is getting milkier in the months since the hurricanes and you’re not so sure that you can get enough votes to get re-elected next time. Well, take heart, all is not lost for you Ray. You may be able to sell your formula for New Orleans Chocolate-drink to old Slugworth. Just don’t call it that. Given the vivid media images of New Orleans residents wading in waste-deep sewage-water, probably New Orleans Chocolate-drink won’t have the mass appeal to candy eaters that Ever-Lasting Gobstoppers might.

Here Mayor Nagan is seen leading Violet Beauregarde, Augustus Gloop and Veruca Salt into his fabulous Chocolate City.

Happy Birthday to me!

2006-01-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

"..every year of my life I grow more and more convinced that the wisest and best is to fix our attention on the good and the beautiful..."

This is a line from a very corny, very bad, very old, sci-fi movie called "The Phantom Planet". While it is completely cheesy, it does offer an idea that isn't too bad. That being, to concentrate one's focus on the better things in life as a means of being happier. Pretty much this was my resolution for 2006. So far, I'm not doing too well on that one, but I'm working on it, I'm working on it!

Lesson for the whole nation to learn

2006-01-12T15:34:00.000-05:00

John Fisher, a columnist for our local newspaper; the Danville Register & Bee is quickly becoming my hero. This fellow can paint so eloquently and vividly, not to mention dead-on correct, picture of what has been done to our city, our state and our nation in the name of "free-trade". His account below sums it up in a nutshell. Kudos to you Mister Fisher.

Lessons learned from working inside a mill - and living in Danville

John Fisher
Register & Bee Columnist
January 10, 2006

I never worked at Dan River Inc., but I probably know at least 1,000 people who did - and maybe more than that. It is impossible to have grown up in this city without having had some involvement with that company, either directly or otherwise. It was and now is - to a much lesser extent - a major part of our daily lives. I mention this to note that with its sale, we are losing more than just jobs, we are losing a part of our culture.
It may surprise some of you to learn that despite the fact that I never worked for Dan River, I did work in the textile industry for a time. Perhaps that is why I still bristle whenever I hear some big shot use the term “lint head.”
Despite the relative lack of glamour associated with the jobs that textile workers performed, their efforts built this region. Most did their jobs with pride and dignity, they fed their families and sent their children to school. They deposited their sometimes-meager paychecks into accounts at our local banks. Their tax payments paved our streets. They were unsung heroes whose debts we can never repay. All who have done this work deserve our respect. Sadly, it seems we have never offered them the respect they were due.
Because of the general lack of respect that was shown them, when I was young I vowed never to work in textiles. Such was the folly of youth, for I learned that you can really never say never. As the cosmic wheel of fortune turned for me, it was somehow ironic that I landed on a space marked Burlington Industries, just down the road in Burlington, N.C., and later up the road in Altavista. I ended up working in an industry that I said I never would. So much for never.
The turn of events that ended with me working in textiles is another story for another day, but the two years that I spent inside “a plant” changed my then-young perspective on life in general and promoted in me a greater appreciation of honest, hard-working folks. These were regular people who took great pride in what they did and in the products they produced. They were proud folks, and in retrospect, I now realize that they had a lot to be proud of. They not only made fabrics, they made up the very fabric of a work ethic that encompassed this entire region. Yes, I can now honestly say that now that these wonderful people are being displaced, we never appreciated them enough - not most of us, anyway.
I remember the way that one woman I met along the way used to talk about how her machine seemed to sing to her, or the joy one man that I knew used to express whenever his dye process was a perfect match for a product’s specifications. I knew one woman who would label swatch samples for testing as if she were preparing her own child’s clothing. I used to watch in amazement as another man would fondle finished polyester as if it were the finest silk. I probably had millions of yards of fabric pass by me during that time. Only now do I realize that each of those yards carried with them someone’s hopes and dreams for better futures for their families. Indeed, the demise of Dan River will mean more than just the loss of jobs.
I have friends from out of town who watch what is happening here and ask me what will happen next. I can offer no simple answers. One very dear, thoughtful man in Richmond posed this question last week: Does this mean the end of Danville? I had to tell him that sure, this will hurt. This will hurt a great deal. But in a much broader sense, I have confidence that we will survive. As the president would say, “the road ahead will be difficult,” but I have faith in the power of the same work ethic taught to us by the very same people whose jobs have been eliminated. This has always been a city of survivors.
This has also always been a city where life has been an uphill climb - at least for the majority of residents.
While the efforts that are currently under way to retrain workers and redirect the city’s economic thrust are admirable, realistically, those things won’t happen overnight. Still, I have faith in the people of this city - people who somehow have always found a way to scratch out a living and feed their families. They have done this before, and I pray hard - as you should, too - that we can do it again. Failure is not an option.
From this most bitter episode in the saga of the River City, I also hope that we learn some valuable lessons.
When I tell young people that once upon a time Danville was larger than either Greensboro or Raleigh, they cannot believe it, but it’s true. The vital economic growth that could have prevented the problems we have today was deliberately blocked to maintain a captive labor force. People long dead created a plantation-based economic system for this city - and this region. We now harvest bitter fruit as a result. We can never allow that sort of selfish rule to happen again.
As we struggle to come back to a level of economic stability and hopefully vitality, we must never lose sight of the fact that even the least among us contribute to the overall success of all of us. It has been noted time and time again that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” In the past, the waters of economic vitality were dammed and sometimes selfishly diverted to ensure that some boats would always remain mired on the bottom. Now we must sadly bear witness to what that flawed strategy brought us.
If nothing else, I guess we must now admit that to selectively limit opportunity to some because of race or class can only ensure doom for all involved in the long run. Once we reach that point, perhaps we can finally move ahead.
Moving ahead - now that’s a direction Danville has never really tried before, now have we?

2006 - Resolution

2006-01-01T10:14:00.000-05:00

This new year, I promise to try to be better, be happier and less sour.

I realize that for the last few months, heck maybe longer, I haven't been particularly nice or funny. I'm going to really try to work on that in the coming weeks and months.

You see my problem has been that I'm not real happy about a lot of stuff that's going on in the world and since this is a place for me to chronicle the voices in my head, a lot of the stuff that ends up here isn't too happy either.

But I have come to realize that if I only post mean, nasty or unhappy stuff here, no one is going to want to read it, plus everyone will think that I'm a mean, nasty, unhappy person, and that's just not so.

You see the truth is, I'm really a very good, decent and thoughtful person, but injustice makes me angry and there is a lot of injustice going on these days; a lot of it right here in my hometown and I don't like it. I count among the greatest injustices, the injustice that has come about as the result of our government's trade policies, which have devastated, I mean really devastated this region, a fact that is not being reported much in "Big Media".

But there isn't anything I can do to change it, so instead, I resolve this year to be happy regardless of it. I'm going to get back to making fun of politics, reporting on hard-hitting fast-food issues, ridiculing celebrities, wishing Wal-Mart into the cornfield, etc. and so on.

So bear with me folks, this could take a while, but it's going to get better. I'm going to be happy in spite of the trouble and best of all, being happy confuses the heck out of them!

2005 - Good Riddance!

2005-12-31T10:17:00.000-05:00

365 Days.

One really lousy year.

2005 is ending and not a moment too soon. This has been one really crappy year for folks in my neck of the woods.

I keep hearing about the robust U.S. economy, I wish southern Virginia was part of the U.S. Because here all we have are plant-closings, layoffs, double-digit unemployment, low pay, crime and of course, people losing everything they have including their dreams. I hope all you folks in the U.S. are enjoying all the "benefits" of all this "free trade" crappola that the corporations and their puppets (The Government) have inflicted on us all.

Remember folks; your job is next, just as soon as the puppet masters can figure out how to do it. So enjoy the spoils of the cheap slave labor while you can...your day is coming too.

Other than that we've seen record increases in energy prices, both for gas and the stuff we light and heat(and cool) our homes with and the promise of more increases in 2006. Thanks oil barons!(for nothing!)

It was a crummy year, a year of turmoil, death, violence, protests, destruction, mayhem and general gassiness.

So why even bother to look back at the crappy year 2005, the year of the turd?

2005 - You make me want to vomit.

One More For The Road.

2005-12-30T16:48:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I'm convinced that there is a deliberate movement against Christians in general, in the media, in the culture, the government. Then I think to myself, "Self," I say, "That's crazy talk!" Then I see something like this article and I think, "Okay, that's disturbing".

Anti-Christian Jeans Are a Trend in Sweden

By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer Fri Dec 30, 7:58 AM ET

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Cheap Monday jeans are a hot commodity among young Swedes thanks to their trendy tight fit and low price, even if a few buyers are turned off by the logo: a skull with a cross turned upside down on its forehead.

Logo designer Bjorn Atldax says he's not just trying for an antiestablishment vibe.

"It is an active statement against Christianity," Atldax told The Associated Press. "I'm not a Satanist myself, but I have a great dislike for organized religion."

The label's makers say it's more of a joke, but Atldax insists his graphic designs have a purpose beyond selling denim: to make young people question Christianity, a "force of evil" that he blames for sparking wars throughout history.

In more religious countries, that might raise a furious response, maybe even prompt retailers to drop the brand.

Not in Sweden, a secular country that cherishes its free speech and where churchgoing has been declining for decades.

Cheap Mondays are flying off the shelves at 400 kronor (about $50) a pair. Makers say about 200,000 pairs have been sold since March 2004 — and little attention has been paid to the grinning skull and dark texts such as "Over My Dead Body."

Even the predominant Lutheran Church of Sweden reacts with a shrug.

"I don't think it's much to be horrified about," said Bo Larsson, director of the Church of Sweden's department of Education, Research and Culture.

"It is abundantly clear that this designer wants to create public opinion against the Christian faith ... but I believe that the way to deal with this is to start a discussion about what religion means."

Out in the parishes, however, some Christians believe that approach is too soft.

"One cannot just keep quiet about this," said the Rev. Karl-Erik Nylund, vicar of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Stockholm. "This is a deliberate provocation (against Christians) and I object to that."

Nylund complained that Swedish companies do not treat Christianity with the same respect in marketing that they afford other religions.

"No one wants to provoke Jews or Muslims, but it's totally OK to provoke Christians," he said.

Some buyers have ripped off the Cheap Monday labels, or even returned the jeans once they realized what the logo represents. But such cases are very few, said Orjan Andersson, the creator of the brand, who doesn't take Atldax' message too seriously.

"I don't believe in neither the devil nor God. I'm not interested in religion," he said. "I'm more interested in that the logo looks good."

Henrik Petersson, 26, said he picked up his first pair of Cheap Monday jeans a few months after they were launched because he liked their punk-rocker style and the logo caught his eye.

"I think it's a cool thing. It stands out from the rest," he said. "I haven't really reflected over whether there is an underlying message."

Martin Sundberg, a 32-year-old co-owner of a clothing store in Stockholm's trendy SoFo district, said he didn't think the logo has a "deeper meaning."

"It's just supposed to be a bit of fun, some kind of anti-culture," he said.

Cheap Mondays have started to sell abroad. The jeans are being shipped to Norway, Denmark, Britain, the Netherlands, France and Australia. Andersson said they're working on introducing them in the United States and elsewhere.

And he did not expect the ungodly logo to get in the way.

"Surely, most people understand that we are not evil people," he said, laughing. "My mom doesn't think so at least."

Ha. Ha. Ha.

My question is this? Why would anyone want to support a product like this? When did it become alright to deliberately insult people based solely on their religious beliefs? Is THIS supposed to be diversity? Is THIS respectful of all cultures and religions? Is THIS more acceptable than wishing a non-Christian a MERRY CHRISTMAS?

Can you imagine the furor that would arise if someone dared produce an Anti-Muslim brand or something critical of some other religion? No, because it won't happen. Yet Christians are fair game now for everyone and I can't help but wonder why?

Actually, I know why, but I'm not gonna say.

A Parting Shot in the War on Christmas.

2005-12-28T21:43:00.000-05:00

I spotted this little story on the yahoo site the other day about what they had dubbed the "Christmas famine" in Kenya. The story isn't funny, and I really have no intention of trying to make it so. However, I do find it ironic that a famine has been dubbed the "Christmas famine". To be consistent and to keep from offending anyone, shouldn't it have been dubbed the "Holiday famine"? Apparently someone at yahoo got the message, because they ended up changing the headline on the story to exclude the "Christmas famine" label, but it still exists on the discussion board for this story, if you're interested.

So is it okay to use Christmas when describing something horrific, like a famine, but not when describing a symbol of the Holiday itself? Is that diverse? Is that respectful of all religions?

By the way, why isn't the National Menorah in the White House, being referred to as the National Holiday Candlestick?

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2005-12-24T23:15:00.000-05:00

A lot has been said of late about a War on Christmas and whether or not it's offensive to wish a non-Christian a "Merry Christmas" or whether we should say Happy Holidays or Season's Greeting or go jump in the lake.

People can be so stupid.

It's Christmas for crying out loud, let's put all that political bullcrap behind us and just enjoy the day. With the peoples of the world so much at each other's throats these days, let's try to remember, even if you're not a Christian, what it is that Christmas is really all about.

O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till He appeared and the soul felt His worth

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born!
O night divine! O night, O night divine!

Truly he taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us praise His holy name
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born!
O night divine! O night, O night divine!

Don't take offense, Peace on earth and goodwill to men. Amen.

The War Against Christ.

2005-12-20T11:36:00.000-05:00

Much has been made of late of the “War against Christmas” as if this was something new, something unique, something, something...... The truth is, there is no "war" against Christmas. Christmas is a much-loved celebration of avarice and greed. Christmas is a vital piece of the U.S. economy. Why without Christmas, hundreds of U.S. retailers would fold, slimy importers of slave-made Chinese goods would have to go legit, Wal-Mart would post slightly less impressive profits next year! GASP!

No Virginia, no one is trying to wage war on Christmas, per se. The war is on Christ, remember him?

I rarely discuss my religious beliefs outside of family and close friends. Mainly because I figure no one cares what I think and plus a lot of people nowadays think you're a kook of the first order if you express any sort of faith based beliefs. But then again, since I really don't care what anyone thinks, and since it's Christmas and all, here goes...

I hold the belief that the much-heralded "Anti-Christ" is already among us, and I contend that "Anti-Christ" is not a person, but rather a movement. Still with me? Good. I believe that Christians are being deliberately targeted by “Anti-Christ” forces in this world, not necessarily spooky supernatural forces, just forces opposed to Christianity, “Anti-Christ”, get it?

And we don’t help matters by doing such things as spending lots and lots of money on credit cards so that we can't pay our bills. That’s a great way to honor Christ, isn't it? No not really, I would say that debt of this sort is a form of Anti-Christ. Or hey, how's about pushing some old woman down the escalator at the mall so that you can be the first in line to buy a Playstation? That's certainly an unChrist-like move isn't it? "For lo, it is written that the aged shalt not stand against the will of the Playstation".

Yeah, at the risk of being branded a kook (again) I believe there is a full-fledged war against Christ, the Anti-Christ movement if you will. And it exists everywhere, even in "churches" such as the foul excrement-spewing Topeka, Kansas church, which I shall not name. It exists in the hearts of politicians who sell out their nation for corporate profits; it exists in the drug dealers and pimps who peddle death and flesh. It exists in many forms and as a Christian I hate to see it. But I also have faith that in the end, it’s going to fail.

Now I’ll step down and go with the nice men in the white coats for a little nap.

Let it freezing rain, let it freezing rain, let it freezing rain....

2005-12-15T11:35:00.000-05:00

Sometime in the last 20 years, it stopped snowing and started "freezing raining". I'm not certain when it happened or even how. I suppose the natural thing to do would be to blame "Global Warming". But the problem with that is; it's not warm. It's cold, darn cold, yet the sky just refuses to snow. Instead, we get nasty cold rain which freezes when it contacts a surface, such as the ground or trees or power lines and cars.

Whatever the cause, I want it to stop. Freezing rain is just plain bad. It's not pretty to watch falling, it cannot be shoveled, and you cannot build a "Freezing Rain-Man" no matter how hard you try . Too much of it can cause powerlines to fall and that just causes more problems. Snow at least has songs written about it, no ones going to write a song about ice glazing I don't believe.

"Oh the weather outside is icy,
and the roads are kinda dicey.
The power lines are hanging low...
let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"

All I want for Christmas...

2005-12-13T22:24:00.000-05:00

What do you get someone who has everything?

I mean seriously, and not in the rhetorical sense. What do you buy for people who already have everything they need and anything they want?

It's a problem I have this time of year trying to find gifts for family members who already have all the things that normally people would ask for at Christmas. People, most of whom, make a lot more money than I do, so they can pretty much have whatever they want, within reason, certainly more than I can buy for them.

Now of course I realize that gifts don't have to be expensive or fancy to be thoughtful and appreciated. It's just that so much of the stuff in the stores is just total crap. Take for instance the odd selection of "Holiday Gift Ideas" you'll find in your average BIG-MART type store.

The Holiday gift selection usually consists of stuff that no one can sell the rest of the year. Odd items, neatly wrapped up in a colorful box of some sort, with a ribbon and a tag that offers some festive saying such as "Season's Greetings!" or "Ho ho ho!". These gift boxes usually consists of something like two cheap coffee mugs and a tiny bag of some sort of coffee or tea mixture. Another might boast two of three bottles of some noxious perfume or cologne. Then there's the ever-popular "Soaps from around the World" collector’s set. Yeah, nothing says Merry Christmas like a box of soap shaped like seashells! Finally, when all else fails and desperation kicks in, usually around December 21st for me, there is the present of last resort, the "Gift Card". A tiny plastic way of saying "Here, I know anything I buy you will be lame, so please just do it yourself."

What do I really want for Christmas? I just really want to be done with the bustle of the season so I can actually enjoy Christmas!

1001

2005-12-12T09:40:00.000-05:00

Unless I'm mistaken, Stanley "Tookie" Williams will be the 1001st person to be executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated.

I have no sympathy for Mr. Williams, a four-time murderer and founder of the "crips" street gang.

The usual hollywood list of suspects is coming out for Williams, saying that his life should be spared and pointing out how he has "reformed" while in prison. Well isn't that special? A murderer in prison on death row has had a change of heart and now wants to do good and spread sunshine to all.

Well too bad Mr. Williams, I guess you should have though of that BEFORE you turned to a life of robbery, murder and violence. How easy it must be for you now to see the error of your ways. Perhaps in your execution, future "Tookie's" will learn from your example and turn away from crime, before they gun down innocent people in cold blood.

You are a monster Stanley Williams. You have received 25 years more life than those you killed. You have received 1001 times the justice that they received. The world will be a better place with you not in it.

Christmas everyday, whether you like it or not!

2005-11-18T22:13:00.000-05:00

Remember back when Christmas was a day in December on which those of the Christian faith celebrated the birth of their Lord and exchanged gifts? No,... neither do I.

Although I'm fairly certain that there was such a time, once, a long time ago. Before malls, television and *ick* Wal-Mart, those days are certainly long gone.

Now Christmas begins shortly after the last big BACK TO SCHOOL sale ends, sometime around Labor Day as the big box stores and the mega marts begin shoveling Christmas at you while you're still in shorts and t-shirts and sporting a tan. That's bad enough, but now a lot of us are victim to an even more incidious plot, the CONTINUOUS CHRISTMAS MUSIC radio stations which begin playing "sounds of the season" the week before Thanksgiving.

That's right, 24/7 Christmas music for more than a month BEFORE Christmas Day!

Locally, this latest plot comes courtesy of WMAG 99.5 FM (A Clear Channel Station) which has for the last, at least three years, begun the practice of clearing the channel of it's variety of "soft rock" and replacing it with every single Christmas tune it can find, especially the really bad annoying ones. That's because there are only about a dozen truly good Christmas carols, the rest of the day it's filled with repetitive versions of these same songs from various artists of varying degrees of talent. And of course the secular Jingle Bells, Holly Jollies and Rudolphs are all there. But since this still won't fill the schedule, they have to resort to any song by anyone that may feature the word "Christmas" or "snow" in the lyrics. Hence we are faced daily until Christmas with the likes of the whorish, and long washed-up Madonna's "Santa Baby", John Lennon's "So this is Christmas" complete with Yoko Ono howling the chorus, Bruce Springsteen's horrifyingly dreadful "Santa Claus is coming to town", and the "Notice-Us Choir of has-beens, wannabes and never-weres" with "Feed the World". And of course honorable mention to "Faith Hill's "Where are you Christmas?", I suggest she check around December 25th, that's where it used to be.

Unfortunately, there are so few radio stations in my area that offers a format that is appropriate for a place of business, that I'm stuck with WMAG's awful format. It would be so much better if they'd just allow Christmas to arrive gradually, instead of force-feeding their audience something we're not ready for. I've tried contacting the station to complain, but apparently, their email is on auto-pilot as well as their programming.

If the best that radio program director's can come up with are events such as Clear Channel's "Christmas Everyday Until You Vomit Green and Red" format or the epidemic of "jack" format stations, it'll be a wonder if radio can survive.

Now I'm no Scrooge, I truly like Christmas, I like it best in December, which is where it belongs.

Election Results.

2005-11-08T22:53:00.000-05:00

So it looks like I was wrong about the outcome of the Virginia Governor's race....whatever!

When your choice is the lesser of two evils, you get evil no matter what. Whoopie frikkin' do! At least it's over!

Virginia Election Day - Never were so many so glad about so little...

2005-11-08T15:29:00.000-05:00

The Lesser of Two Evils....again.

Well it's finally here, the end of one of the nastiest gubernatorial campaigns in Virginia history. The battle between Republican Jerry "Shucks You-All" Kilgore, Democrat Tim "Ferret-Face" Kaine and Russ "Not a chance in Hell" Potts.

Potts, a Republican is no doubt the best man for the job, if for no other reason than because he has stirred up trouble in the Republican election machine in Virginia. But he cannot win due to having absolutely no money to campaign with and having been left completely out of the debates. Even though I like what I have read about him on his website, I know realistically that he can't pull off a win today.

So it really comes down to the two "K's"; Kilgore, the Attorney General and Kaine, the Lt. Governor. Most of these two men’s campaigns have been to portray the other as evil, incompetent and the antithesis of all things that are wholesome and pure. Both men are guilty of having allowed their opponent to define them, which is pretty sad. This is even sadder when you consider how long both Kaine and Kilgore have been in the public spotlight.

To tell the truth, neither man would be my first choice for the job, or even my seventieth! But they are the only ones we've got. So like it or not, one of these two idiots will be Governor-elect tomorrow. The lesser of two evils, yet again! Wouldn't it be nice to have two good candidates for a change instead of the less rotten of two bad ones?

As to how it’s going to turn out, I suspect that Jerry Kilgore will win. It's not that Virginia wouldn’t elect a Democrat, it's just that to win as a Democrat in Virginia, you have to be a pretty remarkable one, and well frankly, Tim Kaine isn't. Jerry Kilgore is no prize either, but he doesn't have to be to win as a Republican in Virginia.

Meanwhile, the man who is probably the best one for the job, Russ Potts hasn't got a chance.

And so goes the strange, strange cycle of Virginia politics. At least whoever wins can't be re-elected! Virginia forbids incumbent Governors to run for re-election and since all Virginia Governors nowadays are on the fast-track to Washington D.C., none of them want to hang around the Old Dominion four extra years to be eligible to run for the office again.

That’s right folks out there in the other 49 states! That means that Virginia’s current Democrat Governor, Mark Warner, will soon be all yours! Good luck, and good grief!

Unity Our Strength: Lies in Diversity

2005-11-07T06:52:00.000-05:00

Over and over I have heard how strength lies in diversity. This is of course liberal-speak for, "don't act like the white people act"!

But putting aside such claptrap for a moment, think about what the phrase actually is saying. That somehow we are stronger all being different, than being the same. Does that make sense? Does strength really result from diversity or does chaos result from diversity? Oh I'm not suggesting that everyone be a carbon copy of everyone else, that would be ridiculous. But having things in common, such as culture, values, morals and a common language does go a long way towards creating harmony, defusing conflict and promoting peaceful co-existence. A strong nation is a nation united by what we have in common, not what makes us "diverse". I would love to see some examples where strength has resulted from being different. The U.N. perhaps? Oops, no.

It would seem to me that real strength comes from UNITY, not from division or diversity. Wasn't it that evil white man Ben Franklin, as he was signing the Declaration of Independence, who observed, "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately"? Note he didn't say, "Let's all try doing something different and see how that works out."

But still we are told nearly on a daily basis that we must embrace all things which divide us, right up to having to accept foreign languages on the products we buy and happy thoughts about the religious kooks who want to kill us all. Our own government refuses to do anything about the invasion of illegal aliens swarming into our country, well, nothing save for making certain that they have lots of Spanish translations available for them when they are applying for welfare benefits.

For a small peek at how well diversity is working around the world, take a look at the riots going on in France right now. France and French President Jacques Chirac are certainly showing the world a fine example of how strong you get being diverse and allowing "guest workers" to overrun your nation.

Of course who can be surprised about France? That's what happens when you elect a president with a name that sounds like a Warner Brother's cartoon villain.

Diversity: Th...tha..tha..tha..That's all Folks!

Thufferin' Thuckitash!

2005-10-31T21:20:00.000-05:00

Welth, I goth my brathes off today. Now I haff to wear thith retainer full time for theveral month'th. Athide from thounding like Thindy Brady or Thylvesther th' cat, it'th noth too bad. A leath I can take thith thing out to eat! Here, leth me do it now....

Ah, better!

So anyway the braces are history after 22 months and the retainer, while not exactly comfortable, at least doesn't hurt. My teeth are straight and look fantastic if I do say so myself.

In other news, today was Halloween. For the first time ever, I had not one single treat or treater...now I have a huge collection of candy that I cannot eat...oh well, maybe it'll keep until next year!

Super-Sized Credit.

2005-10-22T21:03:00.000-04:00

One of the more bizarre questions I have been confronted with lately was a simple three-word phrase; Cash or Credit?

Now ordinarily, this would not be so bizarre had I not been at the drive-thru window at Wendy's Hamburger Joint. Cash or credit, for a cheeseburger?

Um, no thanks...

This is just the latest example of how corporate America is trying to enslave non-corporate America. Once they get you comfortable charging your everyday purchases like lunch, they've got you! You'll never be out of credit card debt once they have you paying 18, 19 or 21% interest on your fries.

I am simply dumbfounded by the notion that anyone would use a credit card to finance fast food. It's a total abuse of the card and the banks and the fast-food joints should be ashamed to offer the service. And the consumer should know better than to do something so blantantly asinine. Simply put, if you charge your Big Mac to your MasterCard, you shouldn't have a credit card, because you don't know what it's for.

This is a time when smart Americans are getting OUT of the credit card trap, that's why so few of us are doing it.

Do what I'm doing. Stop charging, go without and pay off your credit cards before the credit card companies end up having YOU for lunch.

Told ya so.

2005-10-18T09:47:00.000-04:00

Was it really only March 22nd on this very blog when I warned you of the effect gas prices was going to have on, EVERYTHING? It only took the government/newsmedia a mere 7 months to get up to speed, the morons.

Told you I did, now matters are worse.

WASHINGTON - Inflation at the wholesale level last month soared by the largest amount in more than 15 years, reflecting the surge in energy prices that occurred following the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

The Labor Department reported that wholesale prices jumped 1.9 percent in September, led by surging prices for gasoline, natural gas and home heating oil after the widespread shutdowns of refineries and oil platforms along the Gulf Coast. Food prices, which had been declining, posted the biggest increase in 11 months as the price of eggs shot up by a record amount.

Excluding the volatile energy and food sectors, the so-called core rate of inflation also posted a worrisome increase of 0.3 percent after showing no increase at all in August.

The news on wholesale prices followed a report Friday that consumer prices had risen by 1.2 percent in September, the biggest one-month increase in a quarter-century as gasoline prices at the pump climbed by a record 17.9 percent.

While the core rate of inflation at the consumer level was well-behaved, rising by a tiny 0.1 percent, the worry is that the sizable increases in energy will soon begin to spill over into more widespread inflation pressures.

A number of Federal Reserve officials in recent weeks have expressed such concerns. In a speech in Tokyo on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan said the jump in energy prices "will undoubtedly be a drag from now on."

Greenspan did not quantify how much of a slowdown will occur, but private economists are forecasting that the hit from Katrina and Rita could shave as much as a full percentage point from economic growth in the final six months of this year.

Analysts believe the Federal Reserve, which boosted interest rates for an 11th time last month, will keep raising rates in November and December in an effort to keep the energy price surge from becoming embedded in more widespread inflation pressures.

The 1.9 percent jump in wholesale prices matched a similar rise in January 1990. The 1.9 percent jump has not been surpassed since a 2 percent jump in November 1974, a period when the country was coping with surging energy prices following the 1973 Arab oil embargo.

Over the past 12 months, the Produce Price Index, which measures inflation pressures before they reach the consumer, has risen by 6.9 percent, the biggest 12-month change since a rise of 7 percent in the 12 months ending in November 1990.

For September, energy prices jumped by 7.1 percent, the biggest one-month gain since a 7.5 percent rise in October 1990. The increase reflected a 12.7 percent rise in the price of gasoline, a 9 percent increase in natural gas and a 4.8 percent increase in home heating oil.

The price of food shot up 1.4 percent last month, reflecting a record 49.3 percent increase in egg prices. Vegetable prices rose by 16 percent, reflecting big increases for snap beans, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes and broccoli.

Outside of food and energy, the 0.3 percent increase in core inflation was the biggest rise since a 0.4 percent increase in July. Over the past 12 months, core inflation at the wholesale level is up 2.6 percent.

The price of new cars was up 0.9 percent in September with the price of light trucks up 0.5 percent.

The PPI showed inflation pressures showing up at earlier stages of production. The price of intermediate goods rose by 2.5 percent, the biggest increase in 31 years, while the price of crude goods jumped 10.2 percent, the biggest increase in more than two years.

The concern is that businesses, which so far have held the line on passing on the higher cost of their materials, may be forced to start raising prices to cope with surging energy costs.

Oh, and by the way, I'm in a position to know these things and you ain't seen nothin' yet!

The End of the Tinsel Teeth Saga is Near.

2005-10-13T22:19:00.000-04:00

So today I got about half of my braces removed from my teeth. And interesting procedure, because first they remove the "bands" around my back teeth. When they do this you get a taste that I descibed as "everything I've eaten over the last two years at once". A pretty harsh taste, but brushing removed most of it.

So the rest of the braces come off on HALLOWEEN! Ooooh scary!

This has been an interesting, not mention expensive, experience. But I have to admit that it's been worth it.

With my new straight teeth and what with my regular fitness regimen, I look better now at 41 than I did at 21. Like it matters to anyone.

Life Serial

2005-09-25T13:28:00.000-04:00

What a week!

I don't think I've ever had a week like this past week. All the turmoil revolved around my employment and once all the dust settled, I had quit two jobs, accepted two jobs and basically come full circle back to where I started!

Suffice to say, my current employer wanted me to stay, a lot! And this time he put his money where his mouth is and so, I'm staying.

Things are better, and will continue to get better, God willing.

But what a week!

BOING...BOING...BOING!

2005-09-22T10:42:00.000-04:00

Just when I thought my job situation was settled and I was sure of what I was going to do...someone throws me a curve!

I feel like a super-ball in an earthquake.

More aftershocks to come soon.

It's kind of nice to be needed.

Hurricane Tweetie-Pie

2005-09-20T20:59:00.000-04:00

As I write this, once again an Atlantic hurricane, Rita, is bearing down on the Gulf Coast. And once again, the talking news-heads are reporting on the residents of certain areas that refuse to evacuate in the path of the storm.

Now, having never had to leave behind my home and everything that I have with the possibility of never seeing it again, it's hard for me to say how I would react. But generally, I think I'm fairly bright, and therefore if I were told that 150 mile an hour winds and a 20 foot wall of water were heading for me, I believe I would most likely grab what I could and high-tail it for higher ground. But I believe I know why some people don't do this.

It's because the National Weather Service gives Hurricanes and Tropical Storms cutesy, non-scary names.

Why would anyone be scared to hear that Andrew is coming, or Camille? They sound like nice people, let's stay and meet them. Let's invite Katrina and Rita and their kind of funny friend Phillippe....

See? That's not scary. I mean come on! Who's gonna run from a Phillippe?

I suggest that the practice of naming storms after people be discontinued and instead that they should name the storms with much more dangerous sounding names.

For example: Instead of "Hurricane Phillippe", call it HURRICANE PULVERIZER! Instead of "Rita", HURRICANE RIP-CLAW! Instead of Hurricane Katrina, HURRICANE KILLS-U-DEAD!

Now THOSE names give the potential evacuee something to think about in the days and hours prior to the storms arrival.

We're already up to "R" on the hurricane names list for 2005 and hurricane season isn't even near over, so there's a good possibility that we'll get to see Stan, Tammy, Vince and Wilma before it's over. They sound like such nice folks, much kinder than those awful guys SLASHER, TERMINATOR, VIOLATOR and WIPES-U-OUT!

Tammy? Sheesh! Why not just name it Hurricane Tweetie-Pie for gosh sakes!

Stop The Presses!

2005-09-12T10:03:00.000-04:00

Things may not be a bleak or as settled on the job-front as I thought. Things are still in motion, nothing is as it seems to be. The Deep Blue Sea may have me yet...

RESOURCE THIS!

2005-09-07T13:47:00.000-04:00

When did employable persons, become human resources?

I'm not sure, but I think it must have been about 1984, because that's the year that just comes to mind when I hear the perfectly Orwellian term HUMAN RESOURCES.

Human resources. For those of you who don't know, this is what corporate types now call what used to be referred to as "Personnel". Now we're "human resources". Doesn't that make you feel all cozy and special, you're no longer a person, you're a resource!

The term, personnel suggests that you are a person, and a person is to be treated with a certain level of regard, a certain amount of respect for their person-hood. But not so for a resource. A resource is something to be used, and used up! You don't have to treat a gallon of gas with respect, or a tree, or a bucket of coal. Those are resources, use and enjoy!

A resource is something that provides a benefit for the user, but what does the resource get out of it? The resource gets used up, burned or burned-out, or shaped into something else. Remove the person from "personnel" and you just have "human resources". Just another tool of business like a computer might be a technical resource or a light-bulb might be a illumination resource.

Taking the person out of hiring must be a convenient way for corporations and large companies to justify some of the treatment they give their employees and perspective employees. Probably helps them sleep at night knowing that they don't treat people badly, they just exploit their "human resources".

The Devil for the Deep Blue Sea.

2005-09-06T10:05:00.000-04:00

A few times on this blog I have referred to the ongoing intolerable situation, without going into too much detail, just know that this is my pet name for my job.

Of late, I was sure I was just weeks away from escaping from the single greatest source of anger and frustration in my life, that being my job. But it seems doing so would be in effect trading the Devil for the Deep Blue Sea. If you're not familiar with that bit of colloquial wisdom, it means basically trading an intolerable situation for another unknown intolerable situation, or more precisely, trading a crappy job for an even crappier one.

I guess to fully understand, you have to know that my hometown has the highest unemployment rate in the entire state, many times the National average. We also have one of the highest poverty rates and one of the lowest per capita income levels. Because of this, a lot of bright hardworking people, myself included, are part of the "working poor", the fastest growing segment of the population. We also have one the highest V.D. rates around, but I promise I had nothing to do with that!

Even with all this going on, I at least have a job, one I've had for a long time, 20 years to be exact and I'm good at it. Even though it's a dull, depressing black hole of despair, retail job with no future, working for and with equally dull, depressing people, it's still a job and it pays the bills, barely. Yet I, in my naive trusting stupidity, still seek to improve myself. That's why I guess I initially decided to apply at "Cosbov's"(not their real name), the big new impressive and really gigantic department store opening soon here! Once again in my stupidity, I felt certain that if I could make barely a living at a small hometown retail establishment, that I could certainly make at least that much and more at a giant retail outlet like "Cosbov's" which was coming from up north in "The Big City"!

Since I have been doing this job for 20 years and have so much experience in the various facets of retail operations, I felt that I would be a shoe-in for one of the Department Managers positions or at the least an assistant D.M. So not to be outmaneuvered by some other job seeker, I emailed, then "snail-mailed" my resume to the "Cosbov's" HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT (more on that another time) with a cover letter requesting to interview for one of the D.M. positions. Eventually, I received a somewhat stock reply from them saying that they felt I was a good candidate for employment and they wanted to see me.

As luck would have it, the first interview day happened to be a day off for me, so I hightailed it over to their interview center and filled out the application for employment. My hopes grew as they told me I should return a few hours later for an "interview" which I did with great optimism that my long under-employed night was finally coming to a dawn. Well don't wake the rooster just yet. My "interview" lasted about 90 seconds and basically consisted of a gentleman sitting me down and telling me that the position I wanted was filled from within already and that they could offer me a sales position. Well whoopee; pardon me while I do a cheer.

Well to be honest, I wasn't that surprised. I suppose I knew that big companies tend to hire from within when possible, makes sense that they'd do this. So I told them I'd be willing to interview for a sales position a week later, which I did. This interview went pretty well I thought. I'm sure I impressed the interviewer with my product knowledge and thoughts on customer relations. Not to mention my vast experience in all the other areas of the business I have worked in. I told him that I'd want to advance with the company and he seemed to agree that this was possible. Everything was going swimmingly until he dropped the bomb, that being, the pay, the crappy, crappy pay. Oh and did I mention that I'd get to work nights and Sundays too? Somebody STOP ME!

Now while I don't make a lot of money by most people's standards, I do make more than this giant company "Cosbov's" was willing to offer. They insulted me with an offer of eight dollars an hour plus commission. Oh, wow! Eight whole dollars an hour! WOOWEEE! Jethro load up the truck, we're goin' ta Beverly Hills! NOT!

Eight dollars an hour plus commission? They have GOT to be kidding right? Who can live on that? That's $320 a week before taxes or about $250 after taxes. Oh sure, the potential for more exists. Commission, that magical mystery money that MAYBE you'll get, maybe you won't, depending on the whims of the buying public and so many other factors, that I won't list them here. But suffice to say, I can't plan my finances on "maybe". I have to know I can count on having a certain amount each week. Maybe some folks don't have to do this, but I do. I have to know that I will have at least what I make now, not the remnants of $320 after taxes and other deductions take their cut plus maybe more if I sell enough. Commission sales in an economic climate like we live in today is a fast track to bankruptcy. I'd have to sell more than I do now, just to reach the pay level I am at now in my current job. Thanks, but no thanks. That's a sucker game.

On last Friday, the HUMAN RESOURCES manager for "Cosbov's" called to offer me a sales position. I asked her if the eight dollars was negotiable, which seemed to confuse her. After a pause she said that it was not, but that it was good because that meant that I'd get to my commission level faster. Yes, or I thought, that means I'll also get to the poorhouse much faster. I don't think she could understand why a double-digit percent cut in my hourly pay didn't excite me. Still I told her I wanted to think about it and would talk to her later.

After much thought, I came to the conclusion that despite the potential for advancement, despite the possibility of more money if sales are good, that there was no way I could trade the Devil, my current crappy job, for the Deep Blue Sea, their even crappier one. I called today and told her no thanks; I can't take a pay cut. She said to call back if anything changed, I guess she meant if gas prices suddenly dropped to 75 cents a gallon or if gold coins started raining from the Heavens.

I doubt the HUMAN RESOURCES manager for "Cosbov's" works for eight dollars an hour plus commission, I doubt the Department Manager, whose job I applied for, does either. But they want to pay their sales people; the people who actually take in money for them, crappy pay plus commission. Maybe that's good pay if you're unemployed or just starting, but to someone with my experience, it's insulting. They want to get someone with 20 years of real world experience for that amount? HA! I'm sure they do! And I want my own private freeway and laser-beam headlights on my car.

Now I'm going to start looking in new directions for employment. The ongoing intolerable situation will just have to be tolerated a while longer. "Cosbov's" meanwhile will open around November 1st and I'm sure that our local government propaganda machine, otherwise known as The Danville Register & Bee newspaper, will sing the high praises of all the "good new jobs" they are bringing to the area. Meanwhile, I'll be looking for a truly good new job, maybe OUT of the area. As for "Cosbov's", they blew it! They had the opportunity to hire a truly devoted and dependable employee (not a Human Resource), who would have done well for them. Now I'm sure I don't want to work for them and frankly, I'm not even sure I want to shop there either.

All my retail life, I have tried to convince my customers that "you get what you pay for". From what I've seen, somebody needs to instill that in the powers that be, at "Cosbov's"

Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself.

2005-09-05T10:42:00.000-04:00

Local columnist John Fisher wrote a Labor Day Opinion piece so similar to my thoughts, that I could have written it for him! In fact, I did write a similar piece weeks ago entitled "Buggy Whips and Other Free Trade Myths". Nice to know that Mister Fisher is a fan of this site. :-)

How did we allow the American Dream to turn into the 'new economy?'

John Fisher
Register & Bee Columnist
September 5, 2005

Well, here I go again ranting and raving about the latest of those “Monday” holidays that you all seem to love so much. I bet that most of you are already trying to figure out what you are going to eat today - or at the very least where you will be consuming your ceremonial hot dog or hamburger.
Here is something disbursing to ponder: If you really stop to consider the true state of the American labor force on this Labor Day holiday, you would probably choke on those buns.
What really burns me up are the claims from the economic experts who always have some cryptic interpretation of the “economy.” They are quick to tell us that if this happens then the economy will respond one way and if something else happens, then it is likely to respond in another fashion. Just once I’d like to see one of these big brains admit to the awful truth of the matter. We are not dealing with ebb and flow in our old economy. We are in the midst of a brand new economy - one in which the average worker’s actual worth as a human being means very little - if anything at all. It wasn’t always like that, now was it?
Happy Labor Day. Grab yourself another hot dog and pretend all is well. Guess what? It’s not - not by a long shot.
Once upon a time not too long ago, most Americans believed that they were part of a sacred trust. If you’ve been paying attention, you might have guessed that that trust has evaporated.
Once upon a time, just about anyone in America who was willing to work hard could be almost guaranteed to prosper. Once upon a time, if your efforts succeeded in helping to achieve financial prosperity for the company that you worked for, then you could expect a measure of job security. The old economy was based on a bond of trust between the workers and those they worked for. In the new economy, the have-mores get more and the have-less folks just struggle to stay afloat.
There are two principal reasons behind the new reality in which we now find ourselves - computerized automation and the global integration of jobs.
Both were the promised bonanzas that would free up people for more leisure time and the freedom to do other things. The idea was that the jobs that we gave up - or away, in some instances - would be replaced by more well-paying endeavors. Guess what? That didn’t happen, now did it? Meantime, those at the top saw that they could get even richer with fewer workers and cheaper labor costs. Happy Labor Day and pass the mustard. What do you mean you could not afford to buy any this year? Hey, in the new economy, you don’t need mustard - just the promise that it will be back soon.
Welfare reform seemed like a good idea during the old economy, but what about now? Sure, it made good sense to insist that people come off public assistance when there was something better for them to aspire to. But now all we have for them is the promise of even tougher times. Did you get those sesame seed buns that I like so much? You didn’t? Well, that’s OK. Wrap that wiener, boy, this is the new economy.
I’ve been wondering for some time why there never seems to be any good news anymore. Maybe there is, but you and I are just too numb to enjoy it. Maybe you and I are too busy feeling betrayed by the realities of the “new economy.” To be sure, all of us are too busy praying that we or our family members will not be the latest victims.
It kind of seems like a waste of time teaching our children about the American dream when that dream has been hijacked. It has, you know. It is just that some folks don’t want to admit it to you.
What do we do about all of this? The first thing that we have to do is wake up and smell the coffee. Second, we need to tell the folks in Washington that we now realize that when you lay us off, in reality you are casting us off. The folks on Capitol Hill and on Pennsylvania Avenue need to know that you finally know.
More than ever, what we need is a decent working-class system that supports and encourages the workers. Tragically, the average man and woman now means very little. The saddest thing of all is that we have allowed ourselves to believe that when we do get swept aside that we either deserve it or can’t do anything about it. Both are big lies.
Happy Labor Day. Grab an unemployment form and squeeze right in. There’s plenty of room at the unemployment offices here in the new economy.
I just wish that we had the good sense to start “laying off” some of the folks who got us into this mess in the first place.
Oh well, until then, pass me one of those burgers. What do you mean there’s no meat this year? Isn’t this the “new economy?” In the final analysis, I guess what really makes it so gosh darn “new” is that it’s not meant for everybody - just a select few. A very select few indeed.

BLOG FOR RELIEF

2005-09-01T21:46:00.000-04:00

Please help the victims of Hurricane Katrina by donating what you can to the charity of your choice.

Here is a link to a list of charities that are helping these poor people who have lost everything. They need our help. Thank you.

HURRICANE RELIEF CHARITY LIST

These are not pictures from Africa or Iraq. These are our fellow citizens, our family, our friends and people we will never meet. They need all the help we can offer and they need it today. Please do whatever you can to help.

Help is on the way.

2005-08-31T11:26:00.000-04:00

I realize the residents of the Gulf Coast can't see this, but if someone can let them know, please tell them, help is on the way.

This morning I collected some clothing from my home, two large bags worth, nothing fancy, but better than nothing. Then I went out to purchase some necessities; toilet paper, soap, paper towels, bottled water, etc. I planned to give all of this to God's Pit Crew, a local charity that provides relief to victims of natural disasters. I couldn't help but notice that everyone in the store seemed to be buying the same items as I. This made me feel good. Later, at the collection point for the items, I had to wait in line to hand over my donations. It looked like they would likely fill at least the two tractor-trailers they had set up. This made me feel very good. Help is on the way, at least from private organizations it is.

You know what? Americans are good people. We don't get credit for it very often, but we are. Here was a line of people, many of whom would be considered poor themselves, waiting in line, not for a handout, but to DONATE ITEMS to people in need. We are good people, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. All of this when the gas-gougers have already hiked their prices forty cents in 24 hours, yet these people still give to those in need.

I, like I'm sure most of you, have been deeply disturbed by the events this week in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Most disturbing of all is the response of President Bush and the "Saints of Hollywood".

What disturbs me about their response to this National disaster? Mainly, it's their lack of response.

Bush should be telling these filthy, greedy oil-pigs that the United States government will take action against them for PRICE GOUGING. But of course, he isn't doing that, he isn't doing much at all in my opinion. And believe you me, price gouging is exactly what's happening.

Forty cents a gallon increase in 24 hours? Yes, that is gouging. The oil company executives aren't satisfied with their billion dollar homes, luxury yachts and diamond-dripping whores/wives. They want more, even if it means taking advantage of a human tragedy like this hurricane. Shame on them.

As for the terribly concerned and compassionate millionaire "Saints of Hollywood" who always admonish the rest us for not being as concerned and compassionate as they are. Well, where exactly are they now? Where is the same level of concern and action that they showed(and rightly) for the Tsunami victims of foreign lands, now that a similar disaster has hit their country? They don't seem to be too concerned do they? Are they thinking, "Those are just a bunch of ignorant, redneck, Christian southerners who probably voted for Bush, so screw 'em"?" I can't say for sure, but it sure is starting to look that way. I'm sure there are some celebrities helping, because there are good ones, but the big noise celebs are conspicuous by their absence. Shame on them too.

If any good will come of this disaster, it may be to remind Americans what it was that made us great, it wasn't our government and it certainly wasn't our "celebrities".

So it looks like it's up to you and me to help, maybe that's for the best. I urge you all to do whatever you can. No donation is too small or too late. Please help these people who have nothing.

Please consider a donation to the American Red Cross.

Imagine Having Nothing and Losing It.

2005-08-30T11:42:00.000-04:00

Hurricane Katrina is America's Tsunami.

I'm sure you've either read or heard that somewhere by now.

The people of the Gulf Coast have experienced a disaster of epic proportions and they need the help of their fellow citizens. That's you and me.

This would be a great opportunity for Americans to put aside all of this venom that we've been spitting about RED STATE this and BLUE STATE that, and realize that we are all we've got. We can't depend on another country to rush aid and money to our victims. That's just not going to happen, not like it does when America rushes to aid other countries in need.

Many of the victims of this hurricane are very poor people with very little, and many of them have lost the little that they did have. So even if you're one of the "working poor" as I am and are having a hard time making ends meet, consider losing everything that you have. Consider the situation in those hard hit areas. No power, this means no refridgerator, no stove, no air conditioning(with temperatures of 90 and above). No drinkable water, this means NO WATER for any use. No food, no shelter, no clean clothes, and no money to escape these conditions. What a situation to find one's self in!

I am having a hard time finacially, I know a lot of people are and it's probably going to get worse long before it gets better. But even I found a few dollars to donate to the American Red Cross, I wish it could have been more. But maybe if everyone could give just a little, it would help a lot.

Because as I stated before, we are all we've got.

To Donate to the American Red Cross National Disaster Relief Fund Click Here.

No Rest For The Weary.

2005-08-12T12:22:00.000-04:00

Everyone at the ongoing intolerable situation has had their vacation now. Everyone, Papa Smurf, Smurf Jr. and Smurfette and all the related smurf characters have all had their fun and now it's my turn.

Except, Jeff isn't going to get to take his vacation, because he has to buy tires. So all of my vacation money his going to go to tires and I can sit at home and LOOK AT THEM!

Yeah, life is real fair.

Blair for President?

2005-08-05T11:29:00.000-04:00

The Brits seem to be taking the terrorist threat against them more seriously than the U.S. is these days.

The United Kingdom is reportedly instituting new measures to outlaw certain Islamic groups from practicing what amounts to a war against Western Culture.

In one of the most intelligent and clear thinking comments I have heard from a politician lately, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the following;

"They come here and they play by our rules and our way of life," Blair said at his monthly news conference. "If they don't, they are going to have to go."

Wow! Blair actually gets it. Too bad our neo-conservative President doesn't.

"It" being that you can't allow unrestricted immigration and travel into a country without eventually losing that country, it's people and it's culture. Ask the American Indian how that worked.

The west (that would be us) is under attack by Islamo-fascism. They will do anything to anyone to acheive their goal of an all-Islamic world.

Sign of the Times

2005-08-02T21:22:00.000-04:00

This sign which sits atop a large abandoned textile mill in Danville, Virginia was knocked partially down by a tornado last August 12th. While it isn't technically a victim of free trade, the textile mill it stands above is.

The sign, which used to glow red at night and reflect off the Dan River, has been dark for several years now. Dan River Fabrics which once employed nearly 12,000 locally, now has something like 2000 and is not doing well. With the signing of C.A.F.T.A. by the President, the future for those 2000 doesn't look much brighter than the extinquished Dan River Fabrics sign.

Since the mill beneath the old sign is empty now, the "Home of Dan River Fabrics" isn't what it used to be anyway. Frankly, the damaged sign speaks a much greater truth in it's current partially collapsed condition than it did prior to last August.

"Buggy Whips" and other FREE TRADE myths!

2005-07-28T11:40:00.000-04:00

I consider myself a true conservative, not a republican or a democrat. I can tell you that there is no such thing as a true conservative who is also an advocate of "free-trade" as it now exists.

President George W. Bush, while probably a nice guy, is not a conservative, though he convinced a lot of us who voted for him that he was. Now as if to prove that he's not a conservative, just in case anyone still thinks he is, he is spear-heading the drive to make C.A.F.T.A. (Central American Free Trade Agreement) into law. A law that will finish the job that the liar Bill Clinton began with N.A.F.T.A. and other so-called free trade agreements. Now that C.A.F.T.A. has passed the House of Representatives by only two votes, once signed by Bush, it will wipe out what's left of the manufacturing sector in the United States of America.

Free-traders (or is it traitors?) like to use the "buggy whip" analogy, a favorite of that blow-hard con man Rush Limbaugh, to excuse their job-killing policies. The "buggy whip" analogy goes something like this;

A buggy whip is a coach whip used for driving on horses harnessed to a buggy, or small open carriage. In the early 20th century as the automobile industry was cranking up, the "buggy whip" industry ceased to be because no one needed their product anymore, so the "buggy whip" industry was destroyed by the automobile and everyone who made buggy whips lost their jobs. So, they say, this is what is happening to the American textile, furniture, etc. industries and to oppose free trade is to in effect say that "every automobile should be required to have a buggy whip so that the buggy whip makers will have jobs."

Nice try.

The "buggy whip" analogy is flawed as most analogies are. The "buggy whip" industry, if there ever was such an industry, went away because there was no longer a need for the item. The American jobs, which are being funneled overseas, are for items that are still wanted and needed, they simply aren’t going to make them here anymore.

Furthermore, since the automobile did not replace the buggy overnight, the job losses were probably small and over a long period of time. Any net job losses were absorbed by the new emerging auto industry; hence the "buggy whip" industry was replaced by the "steering wheel" industry. Since nearly everyone bought a car, the jobs were plentiful and the money flowed.

But with China, N.A.F.T.A. and now C.A.F.T.A and with other foreign free-trade deals, the situation is much different. Rather than one industry replacing another, we have industry abandoning one country, the U.S.A., in favor of cheap labor in another, like China and the countries of Central America. The jobs are just gone, period. Also gone are the support industries, which serviced the manufacturing sector.

They aren't going to stop selling t-shirts, sheets, glassware, furniture and ball-point pens, as they did with buggy whips, they just are going to pay foreign workers a lot less money to make them. And believe me, they are NOT going to be passing the saving on to the U.S. consumer.

Foreign workers in some of these countries we now have unrestricted trade with are making pennies an hour. In essence, many manufacturers can now virtually factor out labor costs from their overhead, because it's so low. They don't have to pay social security taxes, they don't have to pay workman's comp, and they don't have to pay overtime or medical insurance. U.S. corporations would be foolish to remain here paying all these things plus higher wages, and therein lies the root of all this "free trade", the real buggy whip if you will. It's not a product being produced that no one wants anymore, it's a worker that no one wants anymore, the American worker, the modern day "buggy whip".

What made the American worker into a buggy whip? Basically, you could say that the desire to live a good standard of living and have enough to provide for one's self and one's family has done this. I suppose the argument that the unions caused a lot of the problems which eventually made the American worker into a buggy whip could be made. There is plenty of blame to go around. But generally the blame for the downfall of the American workforce can be laid at the feet of the globalists, the free traders, the politicians controlled by the corporate goons whose greed has overwhelmed their good sense.

While free trader Bush makes a point when he suggests that some jobs are created by the importing of goods, the fact is most of those jobs are sub-standard low-wage, no benefits jobs.

In reality most of those jobs are retail and service jobs, which will mean that the man who used to build a product in the U.S. for livable wages, could now be delivering the product for the store or selling it at the Wal-Mart, probably at wages he cannot live on. He didn't lose his old job because no one wanted his product anymore, as in the case of the buggy whip. He lost his job because he wanted to make enough money to have a decent standard of living. He is the buggy whip now.

As bad as free trade is for American workers, it can get even worse. Bush and his cronies are now also advocating unrestricted immigration and guest worker status for ILLEGAL immigrants already in the U.S. This is for no other reason than so corporations can hire these, mostly Mexican illegals, legally and pay them the bare minimum wage, the wage that legal American citizens can't afford to live on.

Barriers or walls aren't always bad things you know. They keep bad things out and good things in. I have always believed that walls or barriers if you will, are always built for a reason. In the case of trade barriers, they were put up to protect Americans from exactly what we now face, cheap labor imports with which we cannot compete. These damned free traders are supporting what amounts to slavery in many of these third world nations, not to mention forced child labor and unsafe working conditions. Many of the countries, such as China, produce pollutants without the same restrictions that American companies are held to.

Fellow Americans, free trade isn't free, and it's going to come back to bite us all in the.... end, very soon. Why do we continue to elect politicians that sell us out? Why can't we get our collective heads out of our collective butts long enough to see whats being done to us? We were told that free trade was going to save the American consumer SO much money, do you see that happening? I don't. What I do see is good people losing their jobs and being forced to work more hours for less pay just to survive. What I do see are a relative few individuals, in the corporate world, raking in more and more money from slave labor with the blessings of our not-at-all conservative President. I do see an invasion of illegal immigrants rushing in to take advantage of the American tax-payer and a President that not only does nothing to stop them, but wants to reward them for doing so.

We do need mass layoffs in America, in WASHINGTON D.C. We need to reward the globalists and the free traders with unemployment. We need to stop electing neo-conservative republicans and Kennedy-liberal democrats and instead send common-sense AMERICANS to Washington! Americans who will put America first and rebuild the walls that protected us from foreign invasion and corporate greed. We need to make unrestricted free trade into the "buggy whip", because we are not all one big happy world and anyone who thinks otherwise, is buggy!

Now that's HOT!

2005-07-26T14:02:00.000-04:00

It's hot, it's so hot that the weather forecasters have come up with something called a "heat index" to tell us how hot it is.

See right now it's 97 degrees, BUT it feels like 104. So what? They're both really hot! Am I supposed to be able to tell the difference between 97 and 104?

When it's this hot, do we really need to know that it feels hotter than it is? Doesn't it suffice to say, it's REALLY hot? It's hotter than the hubs of Hell, it's hotter than the surface of the sun, it's hotter than Satan's underpants.

Now that's hot! It doesn't matter if it's 97 and feels like 104 or if it's 97 and FEELS like 97....they are both really hot.

What goes good with CROW?

2005-07-22T12:14:00.000-04:00

Okay...so I have to eat a little bit of crow.

It seems that the Register & Bee IS going to publish my letter to the Editor. Seems the page editor was on vacation and just got back.

Well...sorry about that, please pass the ketchup.