American Warmonger

Declaration of Independence

2009-04-20T13:04:00.002-04:00

No, I'm not talking about the document. I'm talking about what I am doing. As of today I am declaring myself and independent American. For too long I have allowed myself to be swayed and guided by partisan politics. There are too few truly good ideas in either major party to be of any significance. The concept of "for or against" a candidate due to his or her political affiliation of comical at best and communist at worst. I refuse to continue supporting someone based on which national politics machine is backing them. Partisan politics and, by it's nature, bi-partisan politics is destroying America and allowing criminals to run the country into the ground.

America, we can not stand for this. We must rise up. We must free ourselves from blindly following politicians. We must cease our endless see-saw bickering. We must be thoughtful in how we run our country, not partisan. In order to regain our footing we must work together to solve problems, not create more for "the other guy" to stay ahead. We must free ourselves from the shackles of tyranny once again.

I am no longer a Republican. I am an independent thinker with all of America as my party. This is my declaration of independence. Long live freedom.

Cyber Insecurity

2009-04-01T11:52:00.003-04:00

So normally I wait a while to post on topics. Okay, I wait a long while before I post on anything. Well, today folks, today I go all knee-jerk-reactionary on you. I just read something that scared the living shit out of me. (Not literally, the living shit, because then I'd be in the bathroom cleaning up.) There is a new cyber bill that will be presented in the coming days to centralize both governmental and private sector cyber security.

LINK

Now on the surface it's not too horrible. The government centralizes their cyber security, which is actually a good idea. Everybody collaborating across services, sharing ideas and generally avoiding the standard Rice-bowling. I like that. It is good for America.

Now the flip side of this is the government monkeying their way into the private sector and "nationalizing" it. Nationalizing? What? Huh? That's good right? Oh, lord, it is not. Letting the government control what you see and how you see it is not a good idea. No, they don't say it now, but that could be one of the things the bill does. It could also be designed to invade your privacy to protect you from yourself. "Hey, we're going to forcibly scan your home computer to ensure you're not using dangerous stuff, or kiddie porn, or pirated software, or research on how to make pipe bombs, or bad words that defame the president. Don't worry. It's change."

Now you may think that I'm going a little overboard with what they really had in mind. "Oh warmonger! You're warmongering again you little tin-foil hat wearing nut-job!" Well, I'd think the same thing, if I didn't know what organization they were suggesting to spearhead this little project:

Last week, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told reporters that one agency should oversee cybersecurity for government and for the private sector. He added that the NSA should be central to the effort.

"The taxpayers of this country have spent enormous sums developing a world-class capability at the National Security Agency on cyber," he said.

Yep, that's right, No Such Agency, Spies like us. The primary purpose for this group is and has always been spying. I do not get warm and fuzzies when the group they plan on heading the private sector control wing to be America's spy wing. Don't worry, it's nothing serious. It's just the fourth amendment they wiped their ass with.

A Letter to Rush

2009-03-06T09:41:00.002-05:00

After hearing the travesty that came in the way of 25 DVD's I decided to write a letter to the "leader of the Republican party". If anybody out there would like to copy and paste this to resend the idea to him it would increase the chance of him actually paying attention to the message.

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

I'm sure you're well aware of the direct slap in the face Obama gave
to Gordon Brown earlier this week. The symbolic gesture of gifts was
so horrifically imbalanced as to provide you, Mr. Limbaugh, with a
unique opportunity. I'm sure you can do better that providing a man
that doesn't really watch movies with 25 DvDs. That's right, not even
blue ray disks, DvDs. Compared to the stationary set made from
Resolute wood, from the same sailing vessel The Resolute Desk in The
White House was made, I think it's safe to say, that you, Mr.
Limbaugh, can do a fair spot better.

So here's my suggestion to you sir. Send Gordon Brown an "apology care
package" from America. Let him know that not all Americans are
self-centered, egotists. I'm sure a collection of first edition, first
print books such as "Vogue's Book of Etiquette", "Pomp and
Circumstance" and others would help to edge the sentiment that
President Obama just made himself look like President Houghley.
Showcase his tactlessness by highlighting our own tactfulness.
Highlight his self-centeredness by presenting our own grace. This is
an opportunity to kick him when he's dumb.

I myself have not done the research into Gordon Brown and I am rather
vague on British politics, but I'd be willing to bet that you and your
crack staff could come up with a few items near and dear to him and
his family's hearts, or Britain's for that matter, that would be a
better representation of the relationship between our two great
nations than a cheap copy of Toy Story. I've seen you take sour
moments such as the ridiculous letter from congress and turn them into
a defiant and triumphant declaration of what America is truly made of.
Here is such a moment to rise to the occasion Mr. Limbaugh. Please
harness this moment.

Respectfully,

[insert name here]

Obama: A Wing and a Prayer

2009-03-02T12:43:00.002-05:00

President Barack H. Obama is a very enigmatic speaker. The lofty, over-the-horizon gaze and the pace of his speeches could sell you anything from used cars, to bank bailouts, to snake oil, to environmental protection, to maybe even a cure for cancer involving Diet Coke and nuclear radiation. The man can convince and enamor you with a smirk, a lofty gaze and a well placed word. He is the pied piper of America and quite possibly the world.

Is he planning on piping our children out of town and away from their families? He already has. More young people showed up to vote for him than ever before. Was it a bad thing? Maybe, maybe not. Who am I to judge what has yet to be seen? America made a decision and decided to elect Barack H. Obama. He should be judged by his actions, not just words.

The part I am most wary about is his philosophy of politics and the commanding ability he possesses. A Democrat president with a majority Democrat House and majority Democrat Senate. With a wave of his hand and a wink of his eye he can push almost any policy he chooses with little regard for what it will do to the country. Whatever he pipes the rats in the house and senate will follow right out of town. He has what has been referred to as "mandate". He has the power to do what he wishes, when he wishes.

Now, I've been to college and paid attention in economics class, history class, English class, and...well..maybe I wasn't so hot for advanced math, but I know my algebra well enough. Taking my former education into account and looking at the policies our new President Obama plans to put in place scares the living hell out of me. I know he was also college educated at a much more prestigious college than me, but almost every policy he's pushing for goes directly against everything I ever learned in school.

This is what scares the hell out of me. Has my schooling been that horrible that everything I know is wrong? Is the president right on being left on every issue on the table today? I very much doubt that I am wrong in my own schooling. I do not wish to believe that concepts and ideas that have shown to fail in most "red" countries will somehow succeed in our own. The only hope in President Barack H. Obama I can see is if everything I know is wrong. I am wishing this on a wing and a prayer, because if I'm right we will have hell to pay in short order.

Good Luck Mr. President. You'll need it.

Back to The Start

2009-03-02T12:18:00.002-05:00

Background:
Well, here I am again. I've been around the block. I've done several different blogs in all forms and methods. Blogspot blogs, group blogs, guest blogs, (kinda)high profile blogs, left/right blogs, blog coalitions, etc., etc. and I've even quit a few times. So I'm going to try and come back again, on the original blog I started with years ago. We'll see how it goes from here.

Current angle:
I'm not a liberal or a conservative anymore, but tend to lean to the right. My dad's part of the RNC up in Washington State, so I'm biased to that angle of things. I'm willing to listen to just about anybody with a rational thought in their head. I've been in the trenches with some of the best/worst and prefer not to go back to it. If it's possible I'd love to see discussion rather than debate, help instead of hate. The world is not now and never has been a place where a simple "yes or no" was the best action. There's always shades of gray that should be sought out. I plan on looking at issues from a different perspective, not what everybody wants to shove down my throat.

Pace:
I'll post when I have something I'd like to talk about. It may be daily or it may be weekly. I can't say how often it will be, but I can say I'll do my best to look at solving problems and not picking a side. Gathering data and observing the flow of things tends to give you a better perspective on a subject, so don't expect a "first run" item come off this site. I'd prefer to post nothing than post a knee-jerk reaction.

Readership:
I'm not expecting too much on the way of readers. I'm not planning on pushing to become big or anything. I might visit a few people from time to time, but I probably won't make it too much of a habit. I don't plan on prostituting myself for a higher hit count. I will, however, visit those who visit me.

Content:
Politics and political strategy will probably prevail. Other things will come up that I think are cool, so I'll probably post on some of them as well. I probably won't talk about cutesy things, like puppies or relationships or children much, but I reserve the right to change my mind if I feel it's important.

And so it begins anew...

101 Ways Fonda Can Redeem Herself

2005-04-11T22:02:00.000-04:00

This post has been bumped to aquire more fondness for Fonda.

"Hanoi" Jane Fonda claims she has found God and now realizes the error of her ways when she was young. She says she really loves the military and always has. It was just some childhood stuff that she took further than she ever intended. Really, we should accept her apology and feel sorry for her because of the tragic threesome she was forced to endu...

*thump*

*ca-chung-chug-bump*

*THUD!*

Sorry about that. I got dizzy and fell down from rolling my eyes too much.

I'm sure it's blatantly obvious that she could care less about the troops and she's only looking to make a quick buck off of her book. She's not even remotely sorry for what she did. If she were really sorry for what she did she could have really done something to show it. In fact, I have compiled a partial list of things that would redeem her in the eyes of many Americans.

101 Ways Fonda Can Redeem Herself

1. Have her ashes shot from a cannon, like Gonzo...only while still alive.
2. Take all of the proceeds from her book sales and donate them to Vietnam veteran (The American ones) based charities.
3. Give all willing Vietnam vets a chance at their own threesome. Heck, maybe they could just run a train on her.
4. Force her to marry her long lost lover, John F. Kerry, for life. Her only reprieve would be if she could get him to sign his DD-180.
5. Burn herself in Tienanmen Square.
6. She could uncover and capture Osama Bin Laden
7. Send a hand written letter to every Vietnam veteran, living or dead, apologizing for her behavior. Each page would need to be at least one page in length or contain one genuine tear of her sorrow.
8. Re-marry Ted Turner. - by: Tran Sient
9. She should have to spend time in a locked room with the mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters of those tortured and killed because of her big mouth, tiny brain, and nonexistent heart. - By: Patty-Jo
10. Check herself into the Hanoi Hilton until each and every living Vietnam Vet provides her with a personal letter of forgiveness. - By: Ogre
11. How about watching Barbarella continuoulsy for the exact same time that all Americans were held POW from 64 to the last returning POW? - By: GMRoper
12. How about funding college for the grandkids of those who died in the Hanoi Hilton. - By: GMRoper
13. How about giving everything she owns away and living as a cloistered nun in comtiplative prayer for the next 150 years? - By: GMRoper
14. Liquidate all of her assets and divide the money among the families of all those who lost their life in Vietnam and then die bitch die! - By: David Holtz
15. Well, we could put her on a deserted island with the sexual predator-in- chief Slick Willie and see how long she can resist his persistent charms. - By: Billy Budd
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22. (More answers needed. Please send more suggestions.)
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As you can see I didn't go the full 101. I'm looking for the good citizens of the blogosphere to help me out on this. So send me your tired, your poor, your huddled crasses. I am now accepting all input from anyone. If it goes over 101 then so be it. I managed to grab seven off the cuff and I wasn't even born during Vietnam. I'm sure some of you out there have much better zingers and much better experience. (any and all responses will gain a link to your blog as well.)

Stress sucks

2005-04-11T14:35:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be able to get done this week. I'm going to be rather busy with things. What things you may ask?

1. I need to get my last class registered (which is overbooked) so I can graduate. Did I mention that today is the last day of registration?

2. The IRS wants $910 for tax year 2003 because they recieved a W2 from the Navy I left in 2002. Calling the Navy (DFAS Cleveland) they informed me that I owe 1,900 due to overpayment. I need to call DFAS Denver (Which is cloded today due to a blizzard.) in order to fix my W2 because they were the ones who sent out the fraudulent W2.

3. My subcontractor was dropped from our contract and we need to put in our resumès to the primary contractor if we want to keep our jobs. It's not too big of a deal but employment concerns are always very stressfull.

4. Wait for the next thing to break in the house. If anyone out there owns a home you will understand what I'm talking about. We've just been through some circuit breakers (small cost but big stress if you don't know what it is. We thoght the water heater had gone out.) and a complete replacement of our AC and Heat pump system. A crack was fixed in our car window today as well. What's next?
5. The thing I forgot. There's always something.

Please pray for the job to offer me a huge raise and everything else to work itself out the way the lord had intended.

Stress sucks.

MOOOving to greener pastures.

2005-04-10T16:43:00.000-04:00

Within a week or so I shall have my new digs ready to go. I have recived my passport for Munuviana!

Right now it's just a blank canvas waiting to be painted. I shall have to change that first. For those that want to prepare your links you can direct the new ones to:

http://www.warmonger.mu.nu

I'm also thinking of buying http://www.warmonger.us (sort of a play on URLs)
Do you think that's the right one? Let me know.

Freedom from hospice

2005-04-10T16:37:00.000-04:00

I'm sure everyone's heard that Mae has been released from the hospice and sent to a hospital where she has been recieving the proper care she deserves. If we're lucky, we'll get a note of thanks from Mae herself in a few weeks, once she has recovered.

We have real issues in America when things like this happen with frequency. I'm sure that for this one life we assisted in saving there are probably twenty out there that we never even heard of. Is this the America that we should be expected to live in? Are judges, with or without a law degree, considered gods of their own creation?

Something is wrong with the way things work and I hav no answers on how to fix it. Does anyone know for sure what needs to be done? Is it the judges? The hospices? Is it us?

Blogger News Network goes Google News

2005-04-09T02:38:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's official. After some wrangling with the code of BNN it is now accessible through Google News. We went live while we were all sleeping last night. Today is a good day for BNN and bloggerdom in general.

Let me begin by saying that no average aggregator blog can become a news source. I need real content outside of repeating what other people say in order to become Googleworthy. Even the likes of Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit and Little Green Footballs have been unable to get in on the grounds of not having enough original material. Well, that's all we're about, original reporting material.

So what does this mean for BNN?

It means we should be expecting more hits from Google than ever before. If you are capable of wording things appropriately you can get your story read by more people by being more relevant to their search. The more relevant we are to their searches the more hits we get. Remember, the more hits we get the more likely people are to click the obligatory link back to your own site, meaning more traffic for your own blog.

This also means that we are more of a legitimate company to businesses looking to advertise on news services. We're official now. We can be considered real news and be able to leverage that point with advertisers. No longer are we just those rascally bloggers in their pajamas. Now we're rascally bloggers in pajamas with credentials.

This leads to yet another potential benefit: We could call ourselves official press. I am currently unclear of what makes a press corps person official or not. Are there dues to be paid? Do we need little "press" badges? (Badges! We don't need no stinking badges!) I'm sure that at the current time there are locations that will take the fact that Goggle accepts us as news as admission of a real source and allow us the same privileges based on that. Others will not be as easy. I'm sure that if one of us tried to claim press at the White House press room we would be laughed at, but that might not always be the case.

We are not quite there as of yet. We need to push our bounds, do interviews with who we can and act as official press when we have the opportunity. Town hall meetings, public announcements and other press related avenues are merely a stone's throw away. There will come a day that your everyday blogger will be given the opportunity to ask the President a question, as press.

Cross-posted at: BNN

UPDATE: BNN hit the front page next to CNN. Here's the image. Robert Hayes has one up as well.

Granddaughter legally yanks grandma's feeding tube against wishes of living will

2005-04-09T00:14:00.000-04:00

Is this Worldnetdaily story true? Is Mae Magouirk being murdered at a hospice? Oh, I'm sorry. That's the wrong word. Allow me to be PC: euthanized against her written wishes by her granddaughter.

Maybe this story is complete junk and maybe it isn't. All I see so far is a single article from a single paper. Here are a few choice tidbits:

Mae Magouirk was neither terminally ill, comatose nor in a "vegetative state," when Hospice-LaGrange accepted her as a patient about two weeks ago upon the request of her granddaughter, Beth Gaddy, 36, an elementary school teacher.

Also upon Gaddy's request and without prior legal authority, since March 28 Hospice-LaGrange has denied Magouirk normal nourishment or fluids via a feeding tube through her nose or fluids via an IV. She has been kept sedated with morphine and ativan, a powerful tranquillizer.
...
Todd explained that Gaddy had only a financial power of attorney, not a medical power of attorney, and Magouirk's living will carefully provided that a feeding tube and fluids should only be discontinued if she was comatose or in a "vegetative state" – and she was neither.

Maybe I can get a power of attorney to mow Michael Moore's lawn and do the same to him? Is that all that's needed? A quick power of attorney for anything?

The dehydration is being done in defiance of Magouirk's specific wishes, which she set down in a "living will," and without agreement of her closest living next-of-kin, two siblings and a nephew: A. Byron McLeod, 64, of Anniston, Ga.; Ruth Mullinax, 74, of Birmingham, Ala.; and Ruth Mullinax's son, Ken Mullinax.
...
In her living will, Magouirk stated that fluids and nourishment were to be withheld only if she were either comatose or "vegetative," and she is neither. Nor is she terminally ill, which is generally a requirement for admission to a hospice.
...
According to Mullinax, his aunt's local cardiologist in LaGrange, Dr. James Brennan, and Dr. Raed Agel, a highly acclaimed cardiologist at the nationally renowned University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, determined that her aortic dissection is contained and not life-threatening at the moment.

Okay, so Mullinax says the doctors said this. Where were the doctors for comment? Couldn't we get a statement from them?

Gaddy, however, was not dissuaded. When Ken Mullinax and McLeod showed up at the hospice the following day, April 1, to meet with Todd and arrange emergency air transport for Magouirk's transfer to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center, Hospice-LaGrange stalled them while Gaddy went before Troup County, Ga., Probate Court Judge Donald W. Boyd and obtained an emergency guardianship over her grandmother.

This is just way too confusing. Is the only thing stopping this woman from consciousness a judge granting someone complete custodianship based on the sole testimony of a granddaughter? So you're telling me that if I can slip a twenty under the judges robes (or a hot blonde) I can get some old person the hospice treatment? Maybe we really need to rethink the judicial system in this country. While they ask for the citizens of America to foot the bill for their home security they give us reason to want to violate that home security. Is this what I'm seeing or is there a piece missing from this case?

I see only one possible avenue of truth that could be derived from this. Was Mae Magouirk lucid or vegetative upon her removal from the hospital illegally? (Yes, it was illegal. Her granddaughter did not have the proper authority at the time. She effectively granny-napped her.) If she were vegetative then I could understand this. It would be a granddaughter carrying out the wishes of an old lady that wants to go. If she was lucid then we have judicially assisted murder by way of hospice.

Cross Posted at: BNN

Potentially my last Terri post

2005-04-08T22:30:00.000-04:00

Today I recieved an e-mail from Corie Schweitzer at Insane Troll Logic. At first I thought to myself that this was going to be another one of those things that would make me want to smack another right to lifer upside the head for not knowing when to quit. Fortunately, she had the sense to come at this from an intelligent angle. For that I commend her.

This whole fight should never have been about "right to life" vs. "right to death". It should have been about "right to choice". Her entire article outlines the bull in several states, particularly Texas, that removes one's right to choice in America. She prings to light the fact that most states carry laws that do not reflect a person's own interests but the interests of what some doctor would want.

Go read to whole thing: LINK

P.S. I would be posting about Mae Magouirk as well, but I haven't done enough to look into it yet.

Five Questions Meme

2005-04-07T03:38:00.000-04:00

William Teach over at Pirate's Cove hooked me up with the five questions meme. This is how it goes:

1. Leave me a comment saying “interview me”. The first five commenters will be the participants.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions.
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some.)

Here were the five questions. I'll split them up into separate posts. Anyone who knows me understands that I have this problem with my fingers: there is no off button.

1. If you could be any superhero, which one would you be?
Kyle Raynor, the new Green Lantern.

Everyone loved Hal Jordan as Green lantern. I hated his guts to the core. He was some smart jock hotshot that was given everything. He took advantage of it and never paid a price. It was a bad example of the cool group.

The Kyle Raynor style GL is different. For him it runs off of his creativity. Whatever he can make in his mind it can happen with his ring. I think that would be absolutely awesome for me. Being a big geek, I've actually laid awake at night imagining what I could have done with the GL ring in this or that situation. It makes anything that you can dream up. It feeds off of your imagination. That has got to be the coolest superpower that money can buy. Not even for the "anything at your fingertips" aspect of things, but for the inventive, thought provoking nature of it.

Question 2 (This is the long one.)

2005-04-07T03:37:00.000-04:00

2. How would you spend the perfect day?
10:00 AM - My wife wakes me up with an ice cold beer. (I'm about 30 pounds lighter and not worried about gaining weight.) We talk about meaningless plans to go absolutely nowhere on the island and how our son is having such a great time back in Washington with Grandma. She continues to be amazed at how well he can read and how well behaved he is.

10:10 AM - She finishes the last three or four gulps of beer in genuine "chug" fashion and ends up with that little drizzle of beer run down the left side of her neck, between her tanned, supple breasts, catch the corner of the small crevasse under the one on the left and become absorbed underneath it. (Oh, did I mention she was naked?)

I eagerly, yet delicately, take one slow lick that spans the bottom of her breast, slowly up her chest, along her tender neck and end at the corner of her lips where we end in a long thirsty kiss and embrace. We have wild, passionate monkey-sex until we both explode, panting heavily and sweating profusely.

10:11 AM - Just kidding.
10:30 AM - She gets up after a couple of minutes on her back catching her breath and walks out the door, still nude. She stops at the doorway, looks back over her shoulder with the bottle in her hand and says "go back to sleep."

11:20 AM - She wakes me up with a single spoonful of food. I taste some meat, probably pork, cheesy and several other things that I am too asleep to try and recognize. All I know is she is working on yet another meal that is par for her course...which is nothing short of phenomenal, four star, experimentation.

I give her the thumbs up as I try to fathom the taste she's just put in my mouth and she skitters towards the door again. I hear something sizzling louder in the background. Before she leaves the room I manage to swallow quickly and blurt out "that's excellent honey!" before she leaves the room. Again she stops at the doorway, and blurts out "go shower."

11:25 AM - While in the shower I try and remember if she was wearing anything other than her cooking apron. I vision was pretty foggy and could have been mistaken, but it appeared she had not put any clothes on other than her apron to protect her while she was cooking yet.

11:45 AM - Nope, I wasn't mistaken. I find her on all fours cleaning up something sticky that had fallen on the kitchen floor with a Clorox wipe. Since it's sticky, she's scrubbing a little and making that irresistible body movement that has gotten many a man ogle many a woman without even know they're ogling. She stops, turns her head back to look at me and gives me a giddy, approving nod. (Use your imagination.)

12:15 PM - By this time we've cleaned up and at least found underwear and tee-shirts. Fortunately, the concoction she made up for lunch was in the crock pot and ready to eat.

She pulls a bottle of chardonnay from the refrigerator, pulls the stopper off, (It had been opened the night before.) and pours us each a glass with what looks like white chili but isn't. We talk about our plans for that evening and laugh about a few things. She hands me a list of things she needs me to pick up in the village. She explains that she has to go to the other side of the island to pick something up and it would just be faster that way. There's no real rush, it just needs to be done by six, when we go out.

12:45 PM - Fully dressed in one of those flowery summer dresses, my wife goes out to pick up her items. One the way out we exchange a slow, close kiss and she gives me a quick grab and a look as she heads out the door. I decide it's about time to check my blog and do some World of Warcraft.

12:50 PM - 100,000 hits! Alright! I guess it was the right thing to send those social issue solutions off to congress after all. Who would have thought we could get a unanimous vote of confidence in both the House and Senate? The French might even adopt the idea.

*Yawn*

I'll check my e-mail tomorrow. I'm sure none of it's going anywhere. I'm glad Glenn Reynolds volunteered to guest blog on American Warmonger. He's so kind and eager to help out since I converted him from worshiping Satan. He even got Markos to help out!

It's time for some hardcore troll killing...Warcraft style...Level 61? Oh hey! they created a new level just for me! How kind of Blizzard!

- Time Passes -

04:00 PM - Man that was fun! I didn't think you could take on a monster like that by yourself and WIN! Utterly amazing! Well, I better go out to the village or no nookie for me tonight!

04:15 PM - I run around through the shops, picking things up wherever they're needed. Somehow I end up with one of those coconut drinks with way too many umbrellas as I meander my way through the little vendor shops. For some reason there's a bungee jumping place. I've never tried it and have always wanted to. It only takes about ten minutes out of my schedule and was well worth it. Woo Hoo! That was such a rush! I'll have to rub it in to my mom. (She was deathly afraid that if I tried it the cord would break so she forbade me from trying it at every opportunity I ever had.)

04:50 PM - After collecting all of the stuff, apparently for tomorrow's lunch, I take the water route back to the beach house. Crisp blue water is lapping at my ankles as I stroll along the beach without a care in the world. For some reason I have a Corona in one hand and the bag of groceries in the other. It's not one of those brown paper bags that are awkward to handle or the plastic ones that cut your hands. It's the kind you bring from home, with the nice leather handle that's easy to carry no matter how much stuff is in it.

05:00 PM - I arrive at the beach house, drop the stuff on the kitchen counter and hear the water running in the bathroom. She's home and she's in the shower. I take a quick peek at the clock.

Yep, we've got time. Fortunately, we upgraded our bungalow to one with a deluxe open shower. You know, the kind that's not just a tub with a nozzle. It has about four jets with a couple of seats. I really love the feel of her skin when it's wet and soapy like that.

05:10 PM - Yep, I told her it would be quick. We're both satisfied and that's what counts. Time to get dressed up to go out.

05:20 PM - Okay, I'm ready to go. My wife has just started putting on makeup. She's not going to put on much tonight since it's been warm out. I guess that gives me some time to play around online for a while. Maybe I can scan through my e-mail now.

*Click* *click*

My, that was nice of Markos to handle all of the hate mail for me. I guess someone who's been dealing in hate for so long would have a talent for being able to remove it. It's good that he's changed.

Let me check a few blogs since I have time. Hey, Rusty, Teach and Roper are going to be the new Deans at Harvard, Yale and Stanford! That's just as good as when DC was named the new director of homeland security. Jane started it all when she was named editor in chief of the NYT. She paved the way for less bias and more truth to come out in the world. I just love it when my friends succeed.

06:01 PM - Ding Dong! Hey, it looks like the limo's here. So where's my wa- WOW! I know she looks great all the time but that dress is just stunning! We're ready to go to dinner now. I'm so glad we rented the big limo. It would have been such a let down for my first time in a limo being packed like sardines in the back. (No, I've never been in a limo.)

07:30 PM - After the nice champagne treatment in the limo and the enjoyment of the company of around ten of my good friends we've crossed the ferry back to the mainland and found our way the restaurant. I have no idea how much this is supposed to cost, I'm just glad that Tony Blair decided to pick up the tab. I hope nobody spits anything when I ask about the spotted dick.

09:00 PM - Man, I've never had that before. That was the most incredible food with the most incredible wine I've ever had. I should have warned that guy with the violin not to come over. I hope the string marks wear off of his face. It just felt so good to beat one of those annoying guys down like that. Well, it's time to go to the club. It's my birthday and everyone's buying for me!

09:30 PM - It was so nice of Tony to reserve the VIP room for us. It's too bad he couldn't stay. He was a real card, that one. Alas, leading a country does have its disadvantages.

Well, now to the club. We dance until about 11:30 PM when my wife whispers in my ear that she has a special surprise waiting.

11:30 PM - We go up to the roof of the club and there's a helicopter primed and waiting for us. Luckily, that new drug that came out which prevents you from getting too drunk while maintaining a comfortable buzz was available to me on the market. It really works wonders. That company was such a wise investment when it was trading for $0.10 a share. Now that they've split even ten times and are sitting at $100 a share I'm really kicking myself for only putting in $10,000. (That comes out to $51,200,000 dollars for those with no calculator.)

11:55 PM - After a beautiful ride the two of us arrive back at the bungalow beach house. We scamper inside out of the chopper's wash and into the house. She starts to giggle a little bit as she leads me to the room that I haven't been allowed to go into all week. She tells me to wait at the door as she's stripping off clothes down the hallway. She enters the mystery room with a quick glance back and a giggle as if she knows something, enters the room and locks the door.

11:59 PM - I hear the click of the lock opening and her voice saying "Okay. It's time. Are you ready? I'm ready, come on in." I stand there with a look of utter amazement like none I haven't had since I was a small child. It's incredible! It's amazing! It's...

12:00 AM

I'm sorry, you only asked for a day. That's all there is in a day. It's over now. Go home and make your own dreams happen. I'm still working on mine.

(Honestly, I absolutely love surprises. The end is perfect for me.)

Question 3

2005-04-07T03:36:00.000-04:00

3. You have 5 minutes with Tony Blair: what do you ask him?
Five minutes, hrm. That's about five quick questions. Here goes:

1. Is the British media completely blind to concepts outside of ultra liberal or is that just how it looks to America? Are there papers that we don't get press about that are completely conservative?
2. Why, after all of the ridicule you have received, did you have the faith to stick by George W. Bush even though it could have cost you the next election?
3. Have you ever wanted to just kick another head of state squarely in the nuts, and if so who would it be? Chirac? Putin? Schroeder? Someone else?
4. I know that many politicians are simply reacting to what they think people want them to hear but you have proven yourself to be one that thinks about things for himself. Is there any topics floating around in the back of your mind that you believe would be an excellent idea to implement but know you would never get enough backing for to implement? If so, what would it be?
5. What do you make of this whole Camilla Parker Bowles thing?

Question 4

2005-04-07T03:35:00.000-04:00

4. Who do you think is the greatest President ever?
I am going to have to trick question this. I don't think there is a "greatest" anything, even the president. Sure I could throw the big names around, Ronald Reagan, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, et. al., but I don't believe that any one of these men (or women in the future) are any better of a person than the other. Every one of the presidents we have had have faced challenges in their terms.

Kennedy had the Cuban missile crisis. George W. Bush had 9/11. Lincoln had a civil war. What would any one of these men have done in the other's situation? Can we say that JFK, the real one, could have handled 9/11 better than Bush? Could we say that Bush would have caused the United States to become two separate countries? None of us can say one way or the other. They are different men with different minds and completely different ways of dealing with things.

I know this is going to sound like a big fat cop out, but I think that the only real answer I can give to this question is that all of the presidents of these United States were the greatest president. I say this not because they did the best they could, but because they were elected by a greater body than themselves. They were elected by what could be considered the greatest set of minds on the face of the planet, IMHO: Americans. (WE THE PEOPLE are the greatest president.)

Question 5 - Finally!

2005-04-07T03:34:00.000-04:00

5. Jello or pudding, and why?
That's an easy one. Pudding.

All you can do with Jello is watch it wiggle. If I wanted to watch something wiggle I'd go look at some porn or something. Besides, I can never get it to stay on the infernal spoon!

Pudding, on the other hand, is very versatile and has something that gelatin could never have: a taste outside of flavored sugar.

Pudding sticks to your spoon but comes off smooth and creamy with a simple lick. It's great cold or at room temperature, while Jello will actually turn into starchy Kool-aid at room temperature.

Effectively, you can make your pudding have nearly any flavor available in ice cream. You can even turn you pudding into ice cream.

Yes, pudding is definitely my choice. If I haven't convinced you that pudding is better than Jello let me ask you this hypothetical question:

Which would you rather lick off a couple of hot female wrestlers? Yes, pudding covers more ground.

Thompson's ashes to be shot from cannon

2005-04-05T20:50:00.000-04:00

I never really bought into the whole "Father of Gonzo Journalism" jibe with Hunter S. Thompson. Sure, he was probably a firm fixture in many activist movements but I was never really influenced by any of that. I really didn't care. I'm sure many people besides me have felt the same way. Would the same hooplah have been made if a more professional yet less "free-wheeling" journalist had died? Probably not. Overall, he was nothing to me. I was not really a fan of his. To the journalistic world he was a hero whose steed was a big giant fist...or a blue guy with a hooked nose. He was an idol to those that carried a pen.

There is one single solitary way that I have the utmost respect for him: The way he had planned to be memorialized. There's just something bad-ass about having your ashes shot from a cannon.

Go read the article:
LINK

Compared to who?

2005-04-05T00:39:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you've heard references between George W. Bush and Hitler, or Stalin, or Mussolini or even Satan. How about a comparison to Thomas Jefferson in the 1800-01 elections. Source: Presidential Campaigns - Paul F. Boller, Jr.:

By the end of December it was clear that the improbable had happened: not even one of the Republican electors had witheld his second vote from Burr after all and as a consequence there was a tie for first place: 73 votes for Jefferson, 73 votes for Burr, 65 for Adams, and 64 for Pickney. This meant that, according to the Constitution, the "high-flying Federalists" were going to have their way: it was now up to the House of Representatives, controlled by lame-duck Federalists, to choose the President. The obvious choice was Jefferson; everyone who had voted in 1800 knew he had been running for first place. But what was obvious wasn't necessarily palatable to die-hard Federalist Congressmen; many of them preferred Burr if only because they disliked Jefferson so much. And Burr did nothing to dissuade them from supporting him for first place, though he did nothing directly to advance his cause.

On February 11, 1801, the House of representatives met in the unfinished Capitol building in Washington to pick a President. The town was crowded with people; hotels and boarding houses were chock-full and in one place fifty men slept on the floor with their coats in blankets. When the balloting began in the House chamber, every Congressmen but two was present; and one of the two, who was ill, lay in bed in an adjoining committee room and had his ballot brought in for him to sign. Each state had one vote, which was determined by a majority of the state's delegation; but if the delegation was tied the state cast a blank ballot. On the first ballot Jefferson failed to get the nine votes necessary for election; eight states went for him, six for Burr, and the other two were evenly divided and did not vote. So the congressmen tried again - and again and again. As the balloting continued with no change in the results, many of the Congressmen sent out for nightcaps and pillows and took short naps between ballots in their chairs or on the floor wrapped in coats and shawls. Six more days and thirty-five more votes produced the same outcome. It began to look as though March 4, designated as inaugural day by Congress in 1792, would come and go without Adams's successor being chosen. Outside the Capitol building there were noisy demonstrations for Jefferson. A score of men in a huge sled went shouting through the streets waving a big banner bearing the words, "Jefferson, the Friend of the People."

There were numerous efforts to break the deadlock. Some of the Federalists approached Burr promising him their support if he agreed to carry on Federalist policies if he became President. Burr resolutely refused to give such assurances; he held back, though, from bowing out of the contest for first place. But Hamilton, who had helped bring Adams down, now intervened to prevent a Burr victory. He had not really changed his mind about Jefferson; but he held Burr in even lower esteem. He regarded the New Yorker as the "Catiline of America," utterly without principle, public or private, who would employ "the rogues of all parties to overrule the good men of all parties." Jefferson, by contrast, though a "contemptible hypocrite" and "inctured with fanaticism," at least had some "pretensions to character." "I trust the Federalists will not finally be so mad as to vote for Burr," he wrote New York Senator Gouverneur Morris. "I speak with an intimate and accurate knowledge of character. His elevation can only promote the purposes of the desperate and profligate. If there be a man in the world I ought to hate, it is Jefferson. With Burr I have always been personally well. But the public good must be paramount to every private consideration."

On February 17, six days after the voting had begun, several Federalist Congressman who had been supporting Burr and failed to get any commitments from him decided to cast blank ballots and end the dead-lock. On the thirty-sixth ballot that morning, one Vermont Congressman and four from Maryland abstained from voting and thus gave those states to Jefferson; and Delaware and South Carolina, previously for Burr, cast blank ballots. The outcome: Jefferson won with ten votes to Burr's four. As news of the House's decision spread through the land, exuberant Jeffersonians fired guns, rang bells, and proposed toasts to "Jefferson, the Mammoth of Democracy." But the Federalist Gazette of the United States huffily reported that the price of whiskey and gin had risen since Jefferson's election and sniffed: "The bells have been ringing, guns firing, dogs barking, cats mewling, children crying, and Jacobins getting drunk." Jeffersonians had jeered that Adams was "President by three votes" in 1796; Federalists now retaliated by calling Jefferson "President by no votes" because of Federalist abstentions in that "certain points of Federal policy...would be observed" if he became President. Jefferson vigorously denied giving any such assurances; but it seems likely that some of his supporters sought to reassure the Federalists about what he would do if he became Chief Executive.

Hrm...how many similarities to Bush and current times can you see in that? I see at least five. You should too. I highlighted them. Don't see the link? Here:

73 votes for Jefferson, 73 votes for Burr,

Didn't bush have a virtually deadlocked vote with Gore? I'm pretty sure everyone remembers this election. It has been the topic of debate between Republicans and Democrats for some time.

many of them preferred Burr if only because they disliked Jefferson so much.

WOW! If you can't pick this one out you may want to get a new prescription for your glasses...or check yourself into the moonbat wing of the loony bin.

Wasn't this most recent election supposed to be the "Anybody but Bush" election?

On the thirty-sixth ballot that morning,

These guys voted and re-voted for six days straight. They cast their votes a total of thirty-six (36) times in order to get a winner. There were no lawyers deciding who won the election, no judges deciding who would be president. It followed the path of a legitimate "checks-and-balances" democracy. For all of the whining and crying about how close this election or that election was Bush's "close calls" were nothing compared to what Jefferson went through. Remember that number the next time someone says that Gore or Kerry were robbed: Congress voted 36 times to decide the President over six days of continuous voting.

President by no votes

Okay, this is a pretty easy one. Anybody? No? Okay: Selected, not elected.

~~~~Side moral to this story~~~

If anyone can remember a while back to when I booted my first person you will remember that the last straw was his comparison of Bush to Hitler. I initially intended to throw this post up as a quick rebuttal but looked at the situation a bit more deeply and decided not to get into the pissing contest anymore. You can compare Bush to nearly any group or person if you dig deep enough. There is very little, save the current war on terror (and that's debatable), that is new or different than things that have already happened someplace, sometime in history.

I see both sides, left pissing and moaning about different things. They are outraged that there is a filibuster. They're infuriated that Bush stole an election. Terri Schiavo was murdered, or was given a merciful freedom from her prison. They both say that this or that is the first time [fill in the blank] has ever happened in [xx years, months, ever]. They really don't have a clue what they're talking about. The only thing it does is turn things into an angry issue with only two sides, both of which are usually wrong. Even though they tote their superior knowledge of history repeating itself they are too blind in their own rage and are destined to do just that.

[end rant]

Crossposted at: BNN

Just a smidgen of work

2005-04-04T02:52:00.000-04:00

Go check out GM Roper's new eagle. It came from a photo he took an a trip to Alaska. He took the photo. I did a quick photoshop and put it online. It's a really sweet picture. You can get stuff like that as well. Just ask me or e-mail me, or my partner Ogre. We're in the business of doing this kind of stuff.

Pumping Pixels

...and since I'm on the subject, go vote for GM Roper in the KotB tourney. I do.

Even geeks get computer stupid

2005-04-03T22:18:00.000-04:00

Okay, I admit it. Even us ùber-geeks get computer stupid. Let me explain.

Today I installed a new video card into a computer that was using onboard video. I went into the bios like I'm supposed to, changed settings, rebooted, everything seemed like it should work. I had even seen the card work on a different computer. No problems right? Wrong.

I just spent an hour wondering why I couldn't get my monitor to kick in with the video card. I chacked and re-checked everything. Removed the card and reseated it. Finally, in an act of desparation I went to the manual to look and see if there was an extra special setting that I had missed. Nope, not a setting out of place.

I then went to the troubleshooting section:
Problem, screen is blank

1. Screen Saver is enabled - not a problem
2. PC is in standby mode - not a problem
3. PC is in hybernation mode or is off - not a problem (Are people really this stupid?)
4. Monitor connector is not properly connected to the back of the PC - Okay, I guess I really AM that stupid.

Monitor cable has now been moved from the built in video card into the new one. Everything works fine now. Yes, even ùber-geeks are computer stupid sometimes.

Anti-stupidity Alert!

2005-03-31T13:27:00.000-05:00

Rally for Social Security Reform

My dad just received this from the chairman of Washington's Republican party. Here is your opportunity to meet the American Warmonger in person. Hell, sounds like a fun afternoon. If I had time I'd bring my paper on it. As things are, I'll just have to wing it.

Democratic Senators Patty Murry, Maria Cantwell, Mary Landrieu, Barbara Boxer Blanche Linicoln and Barbera Mikulski will be holding a Town Hall Forum in Downtown Seattle to criticize President Bush's vision of strengthening Social Security. Democrats have been quick to condemn the president's plan but have failed to offer an alternative solution, save simply raising taxes.

Join Generations Together in a rally outside Seattle Town Hall to show your support for Social Security reform. Help send a message to Democrats. Work with President Bush to save Social Security!

Thursday, March 31
Seattle Town Hall
1119 8th Ave
(Entrance on Seneca Street)
12:45PM

I've been Terrilanched

2005-03-30T02:00:00.000-05:00

This is just too weird. I've been watching my sitemeter climb the closer Terri gets to death. I went from around 120 hits to around 350 hits yesterday. Much of it had been from Hyscience or Blogs For Terri but yesterday was different. Yesterday I began recieveing a mess of hits from Terri herself. Yep, Terri has her own blog...well...sort of. Some smackboy decided it would be really funny to throw up a couple of posts with noises spelled out and call it Terri's blog. It was a really stupid idea.

I guess the most ironic part about this is that I had been priding myself on not being launched by any big blogs since my inception. Now here comes this sounding board of a topic that I have a semi-different idea about and everyone wants to tell me how much of an idiot I am for not agreeing completely with their truth about things. I am frankly very tired about this case. It has gone on much longer than it really needs to, but for some reason unbeknownst to me it has given me more traffic than I've ever had before.

So now that I'm getting a bunch of hits about this, here's the deal:

I'm rather sick of this whole ordeal and both sides of this case have really pissed me off. I no longer care if it's a dry or wet, hot or cold, sweet or sour death. I no longer care what your truth is on what life is or is not. Unless your name is Terri Schiavo you do not know what is going on...unless she's really PVS, then no one knows. I'm sure everyone has meant well with their articles saying Terri will feel no pain because this article says so, or she's really alive and only needs a shunt for a full recovery because of this article. It just doesn't matter to me anymore.

If you would like to debate the case on the merits of a person's rights to choice, whether PVS or not, by all means beat me up. If you have something on the legalities of what this could mean for future cases, by all means speak up. If you have irrefutable evidence as to why or why not Terri is or is not feeling something there are several other blogs that would love to take your truth and round file it. I, for one, am getting a bit tired of it.

..and I'd like to take this moment to apologize to my cousin for blowing up on her. This has been coming to a head for a while and I should have been a little more careful about the words I chose to write. I'm just getting a bit tired of being called wrong by people that only know their part of the truth.

Terri is Black!

2005-03-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

According to reports Jesse Jackson has joined the fight for Terri Schiavo's life because those against her continued life have racist motives.

"This is one of the profound moral, ethical issues of our time, the saving of Terri's life," the civil rights leader said. "And today we pray for racial equality."

Mr. Jackson also made mention that:

"I have known black pedophiles and Terri is no pedophile." said Jackson. "The only thing Terri is guilty of is being comatose while black. This would not have happened to a white comatose patient.

Mr. Jackson also made mention that lack of brain capacity has never stopped him from making political, religious, ethical or even extramarital decisions before:

"Terri has no less brain capacity than I do. I am sure that with rehabilitation she and I will regain our ability to be effective and productive members of the black community in America, Lord willing.

He made reference to being able to help the world with the religious leader Osama Bin Laden and then had to have his feeding tube reinserted.

In honor of Nickie Goomba, this has been a satirical cross reference of Jesse Jackson in the news.
Michael Jackson and the Race Card: "Don't Leave Home Without It" by Larry Elder -- Capitalism Magazine

CNN.com - Jackson joins fight over feeding tube - Mar 29, 2005

Another fine blog

2005-03-29T03:58:00.000-05:00

As promised, the EiP pink OLD Navy fleece pullover Babe has been provided with one all expenses paid blogger blog. It has been designed by yours truly, Franz. Chalk this one up as another fine blog by Pumping Pixels.

Please welcome Yup'ik Rock to the blogosphere!

If you would like another great design like this one, you know where to find me:
gmail: jeremy.bol@gmail.com

Eventually, I'll get the portfolio up, but right now I'm sort of supposed to be on vacation.

(note: I started Yup'ik Rock on Sunday. It's complete, or near complete on Monday night. Miss Patriot has been waiting for her blog design, from a competing designer, for several weeks now.)

Random thoughts on Terri

2005-03-27T22:52:00.000-05:00

Well, the way things are looking Terri Schiavo will be passing on peacefully after her tongue swells and cracks, nose bleeds, etc, etc. and she finally has one last violent cardiac arrest. There's not much that can save her at this point. As far as I can tell any appeals will be going through Judge Kevorkian, so no reprieve will be found.

I've had some time to just think about the case and have sort of formed a different opinion about this whole situation. I've been contemplating whether I should post this or not. I don't want to tick off the right to lifers, but I'm not really one of them and sort of have to say something about it, so here goes:

If I were in Terri's shoes I would have wanted to be put down a long time ago. Could I recover? Hell, I don't know, but I wouldn't want to be left as a treant. I say treant because I don't think she's a vegetable, but I don't really think she'll ever be all there no matter what sort of therapy she gets. I doubt she would even be able to do anything without major assistance. I would want to be put to death. I do not follow with the ideal that all life is precious no matter how crappy it is. If you want to be put down I have no problems with it. More power to you.

To caveat this I believe I have taken more of the libertarian approach on this issue. I feel that Terri did not give the proper indication to decide one way or the other about her state. I don't believe one side or the other as to whatever she said. I think they're both lying about things.

It seems rather curious to be as to why someone would wait over seven years to say that she wanted to be put to death. On the same token, I don't believe that she made judgment to the contrary either. How many people in their mid twenties have really thought about a living will?...okay, BEFORE Terri Schiavo? Have YOU written you living will?

As an example, my mom, Patty-Jo, is 48 years old and has a free living will sitting on the table, unfinished. She'll get around to it...maybe. Sigh. I really don't think Terri paid it a second thought and both sides are wrong.

Now having said this, the only two groups able to determine Terri's condition are the government and Terri herself. Since Terri has this really strong speech impediment she can't quite speak for herself. I really wish that Judge Doom had given her over to DCF. They may not be the most kind and gentle people when it come to certain things, but at least you could get a third impartial party involved.

To throw out the devil's advocate argument, Judge Greer and all of the other judges do not really care about all of the facts. Greer has made up his mind many years ago and the rest of the judiciary is standing behind him on solidarity alone. Even if they looked at the records they already had a decision in their minds. It was over before it started, and that's really screwed up. That is why I would prefer, personally, to see DCF get permitted to look into this...which Judge Dredd dismissed.

The whole point I'm trying to make is that the only person who can make the life and death decision for Terri is Terri. That is why I believe this is wrong. Does it happen in many more cases than this where the judiciary will make life or death decisions? Yes, and that's rather screwed up too. It's rather unfortunate that the lady down in Texas had her baby pulled off the ventilator without her permission and there is nothing that can legally be done. Mom should have had the choice, it's constitutional: LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

...and if I'm ever in the same situation, pull a Kevorkian. I'll come back from the dead and kill you all if I'm starved to death...try me.

I just can't leave well enough alone

2005-03-25T07:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I've made the major change to my site layout. If need be, I can change it back at the drop of a hat. My blog site is sort of like my sketch pad for ideas.

Speaking of ideas, my next major task will be moving the sidebars from the right to the left, staggering them and matching the towers to the top of my sidebars.

Let me know if it would be too much. I wouldn't want to offend anyone.

Almost forgot, Today I'll by flying out to Washington state to meet up with family. Depending on how things go I may be blogging a bit less than usual. I thought of bringing in a gnome to help with the rif-raf while I'm out, but we all know how that ends up.

My old offer of having a second blogger for the blog still stands. If you're willing to give up your own blog I may be willing to give you half of the proceeds*

*This site does not take in any money.

NEW TOONZ

2005-03-24T04:31:00.000-05:00

Just put up a new indie tune. He sounds like a Skynard age band. The clip is short, but don't make that keep you from litening or picking up his album. I haven't heard music like this since...well...Skynard.

Go give it a listen on the right, under "Supporting Indie Bands".

Schiavo parents prepare Supreme Court appeal

2005-03-23T23:13:00.000-05:00

Well, it's down to the wire folks. There's not much left to be done. There's about two more possible saves in this case. So, what are these saves?

1. An appeal to the Supreme Court of the U.S. can be made. It would be an unprecedented event for the same court that has refused to hear this case several times before. Considering the reaction of several lower courts, it does not look like the Democrat heavy Supreme Court will even see the case, let alone vote in favor of giving Terri life.

2. DCF in Florida has recently had a neurologist examine Terri's medical record and determined that there was a likely misdiagnosis. He considered her "most likely in a state of minimal conciousness". What this means is that DCF can intervene if it so chooses and deem Terri a ward of the state. This would take all decision making abilities from and of the current people in the case and make it a decision based on DCF's findings, free and clear of persuasion by either side. This appears to be the most logical choice in this case.

So what would Terri becoming a ward of the state enable?

Making Terri a ward of the state would enable the personal backstabbing on both sides of things come to an end. There would be no opportunity for Michael Schiavo to intimidate doctors, nurses, small shrubberies, etc. from providing care and/or therapy to Terri. He would no longer be able to prevent video from reaching the court system through legal means, swallow tests from being done, personal effects in the room, strolls outside, etc. He could no longer manipulate the situation in any way shape or form.

On the other side of this coin, the Schindlers will no longer be able to slander Michael about what he has and has not done. There are oodles of rumors flying this way and that about what people have or have not said or done. Putting this in the hands of DCF would put things on a level playing field and prevent the he said/she said.

Whatever happens we need to have it happen, it needs to happen soon. Terri's basically on a state imposed hunger strike and if anything is delayed she will get nothing but dead.

Template change - yet again.

2005-03-23T20:05:00.000-05:00

I've tweaked my template ever so slightly...can anyone tell?

Let me know if the new background image makes it hard to read, I'll lighten the pic up a bit.

Teach, let me know if I'm still covered for the American Flag League. If not, I'll change the image to the firefighters with the flag.

Should I change back? Should I keep it? How's it look?

A letter from th Daily Blitz

2005-03-23T14:37:00.000-05:00

Jheka, of The Daily Blitz, recieved an e-mail calling for essays from 17-25 year olds. I'm too old to write for them, but you might be right up their alley. Here is the letter that was sent to Jheka:

My name is Seth Spores; I am one of the three editors and co-founders of College Tree Publishing. We contacted hundreds of university and college conservative and liberal groups, political science departments, and university news papers and requested essay submissions from people in the 17 to 25 year old age group on political and social issues. The end result was What We Think: Young Voters Speak Out, which was put out nationally in late October. The book was meant to be a running forum for political _expression of America's youngest voting demographic, and in that regard has been a success. Since the book was published in October, the book has already received national press on CNN, MSNBC, an hour long special on CSPAN-Book TV and has been nominated for the Franklin Award.

We are a non-partisan company possessing a Republican, Democrat and Libertarian leaning editor, trying to give fair and equal voice to all ideologies present among college age youth. We are currently accepting submissions for our next two books, What We Think 2 and What We Think About God and looking to increase the number of well written pieces. Our goal is to receive 10,000 submissions from now through summer, and to publish the top 200 to 300 in late third quarter.

I am contacting many blogs and other forms of media not necessarily connected to Universities, in hopes of reaching a wider base of essayists. We would like to know if you would run a short story on your blog, stating that we are requesting submissions for national publication. All authors are given full credit for their work, a short bio is dedicated to them in the back of the books, and we've been arranging book signings and talks across the country for authors in our current edition so these young authors get the credit and visibility they deserve. Let me stress finally that individuals submitting need not be in college to qualify for publication.

Please feel free to contact us with questions or requests for more information,
Seth Charles Guy Spores
Editor and Co-Founder of College Tree Publishing
seth@collegetreepublishing.com
www.collegetreepublishing.com

If you're 17-25 years old and capable of forming readable material there is a good chance you could have your essay published. Maybe I could lie about my age?

Anyway, Jheka is a good writer, good lawyer, and good Russian (as far as I can tell from only a snippet of reading his stuff). GO give him a look see.

STEAL THIS GNOME!!

2005-03-22T22:46:00.000-05:00

I was minding my own business when I heard about this Gnome guy that quit his post over at Chuck's Place. He was supposed to guard the place from Harvey and Nick bringing in strippers and beer while Chuck went out to party for spring break.

Well, it didn't take long for Ogre and GM Roper to come by with the needed supplies to bust the place wide open. The next thing you know the gnome was going on a little spring break of his own. Hell, he went on another world tour.

Somewhere along the line he got a bit of color in his life and he's hanging out at my blog now:

I think the thing that Chuck may have forgotten was that gnomes are suckers for what Chuck was trying to prevent from getting brought in:

Beer
That was an easy one. Gnomes love beer. If you have more than two beer steins at home I'd be willing to bet that you're suffuring from "gnome encroachment" as well.

Strippers
This was the hard part. You see, gnomes could really care less about long legged buxom blondes. Most gnomes aren't mountain climbers and don't want to go through the trials and tribulations of climbing some huge chick. Luckily, we were able to find this little lady hanging in one of the more seedy parts of town:

What a looker!

The moral of this story: Don't trust a gnome with a bad example, for he will rope him in with an ogre and end up with one hell of a paradox.

Please Help
This gnome needs traveling time. He's on a world tour. Put him on your blog. Write up a small story...or not. Trackback to Nick Here: http://blog.mu.nu/cgi/mt-tb.cgi/71993

We're trying to get a full listing of where the gnome has been so Chuck can see when he gets back. Let's make sure the gnome has a better trip than he does!

If you need a trackback tool you can use Wizbang's Standalone Trackback Pinger.

Marking World Water Day, UN to launch Water for Life Decade

2005-03-22T01:07:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm spinning this for Terri Schiavo. Wouldn't it be sort of fitting to put her back on food and WATER today? I mean, she'll go by dehydration before she goes by starvation. Maybe God was waiting for the right day, sort of a coincidental occurrence?

One can hope, can't we?

GM Roper for king!

2005-03-21T14:29:00.000-05:00

Yep, GM Roper has a talent for kissing a.....er...wooing the judges. He's done a wonderful job at it. So good in fact that he's wooed me as well. So, on for week two. WOO WOO!

Okay, that sounded bad. Nevermind. I'm voting for GM Roper to continue his riegn as the new king of blogs. In fact, I believe the handing of the crown ceremony has just taken place. I handed my crown down in absentia. I still don't know where Absentia is but I must have been there. I was busy getting my teeth laser whitened. In an hour and a half my teeth have gone from a shade of yellow sticky to damn near copier paper color. This incredible imporvement only comes at the cost of about $575 (Normally $650 but they're running a $75 off deal for a while.)

Anyway, go vote!

Fixing Social Security: The Options

2005-03-20T19:58:00.000-05:00

Something that has been taking the front seat in the news today is Social Security. It has become something of the political hotbed in the past few months. We hear everything from there being no problem within Social Security to the current state of Social Security casing the fall of America in less than ten years. The truth of the matter is that none of us are completely sure as to what will happen. We have several options on the table and what I intend to do is define them in a manner that will simplify the effects each has on our society.

To begin, we need to define our current system and the factors involved with it. This article will deal with just a few aspects of the system: The age in which you are collecting, the totals payroll costs of the system and what portion of your salary is going to fund the system.

At the age of 62 you are eligible to receive minimum benefits for social security. At this age you can chose to get into the system at a reduced rate, or wait until subsequent years and receive a greater percentage of your graduated salary. Here is the statement included about retirement at age 62 from SSA.GOV:

You can get Social Security retirement benefits as early as age 62, but if you retire before your full retirement age, your benefits will be permanently reduced, based on your age. For example, if you retire at age 62, your benefit would be about 20 percent lower than what it would be if you waited until you reach full retirement age.

Your full retirement age at present is 67 for anyone born after 1960 and 65 for anyone born after 1937 with various changes in age requirements between those years. You can also chose to work until the age of 70 and gain increased benefits. A good representative of this system is also found at SSA.GOV:

Each additional year you work adds another year of earnings to your Social Security record. Higher lifetime earnings may mean higher benefits when you retire.

Also, your benefit will increase automatically by a certain percentage from the time you reach your full retirement age until you start receiving your benefits or until you reach age 70. The percentage varies depending on your year of birth. For example, if you were born in 1943 or later, we will add 8 percent per year to your benefit for each year that you delay signing up for Social Security beyond your full retirement age.

The next factor in this system is how much money you will receive at retirement. For simplicity’s sake, we shall use the SSA.GOV calculator to determine your income considering a person earning $60,000 for at least 10 years. We will not be including the inflation estimate as it gives an inflated number of valuations that do not equate to today’s current value. Retirement values per month are:

Age 62: $1,263.00
Age 67: $1,794.00
Age 70: $2,224.00

If these numbers seem small to you remember that social security was never meant to entirely replace other means of retirement. It was meant as a means of preventing poverty in old age. However, over time it has included several other at-risk populations, but was still not meant as one’s only means of income. (Sharp, 401) In fact, only 18% of Americans use it as such today. (Sharp, 408) It wasn’t meant to enhance your life, only sustain it.

To add an extra factor to this from someone observing the things that happen at retirement age, the above numbers are not as meager as the look. This comes into effect by taking note of the standard 30-year mortgage. Most Americans will own their own home by the age of retirement or before. The mortgage normally consists of about half of your total income. Say, for example, you are making about $4,000 per month (the calculation of $60,000 a year and 20% income tax) you will receive about half of that at retirement age or only slightly less.

The last factor required in order to better understand the current situation is how much social security is costing today. I am going to have to split this up into two different sections. There are topics that cover both the taxed end of things, and then there is the total of all Social security revenues combined for payout to our seniors and other at-risk populations.

As the current tax system for social security stands, we will pay 1.45% of our pay to Medicare and 6.2% towards Social Security. The business end of this is matching that of your individual contribution. It equates to 15.3% of your payroll. Once we reach $80,400 in earnings per year we no longer have the payroll tax on either side, but the Medicare tax of 1.45% remains on both sides, employer and employee. This makes your additional taxes total 2.9% of your remaining pay over $80,400. This will actually change the $4,000 per month at a base of $60,000 per year after taxes to $3,694 monthly. This means $306 of your hard earned money goes towards Social Security and Medicare every month.

The last portion of things that needs to be understood is the amount of money required to fund social security and where it is officially headed. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO):

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that spending for Social Security, adjusted for inflation, will rise from $483 billion in 2003 to $2.5 trillion in 2075. Those estimates are based on CBO's 10-year baseline budget outlook and the "intermediate" long-range assumptions of the trustees of the Social Security system.

From some of the reports I have been hearing about Social Security, I was under the assumption that we were paying a lot more into the system. To quote Professor Kim, Strayer University online:

Out of about $2.2 trillion government spending each year, 32% is spent on Social Security and Medicare…

If this were true, 32% of 2.2 trillion dollars equates to $704 billion instead of the aforementioned $483 billion. There are several other examples of misrepresented numbers and it appears that you can get a different answer to this question simply by asking another official who has checked his or her own numbers. It has become an area of extreme confusion. The best representation of accuracy that can be mustered is the Summary of the 2004 Annual Reports from SSA:

Now we need to compare this rate of inflated Social Security benefits to the age demographics of people through several generations. This is where we can cross-reference and determine at what age Social Security will run out

By looking at the chart and calculating how much will be owed, it appears the first major decline in this system will rear its ugly head in 5-50 years. This is when those aged 50 will be 62, the minimum required age or 67, the fully vested age of Social security. If you’ll notice, 10 years after that, we will be in a much worse predicament, when those that are in their 40s are of retirement age.

Now that we have defined the problem we need to determine what can be done to fix it. How can we save Social security so that we don’t bankrupt America? As the government sees it there are effectively three methods of accomplishing this. They are raising the tax rate for those paying in, increasing the age of retirement or creating personal retirement accounts.

Personal savings accounts (PSA), in reality, do nothing to directly change the Social Security deficit. What they do is put a portion of your funds into a more direct account that you can have some personal control over. It does a lot to increase your personal retirement wealth, but does not fund the system. It really doesn’t do much against the system either. Remember that every dollar taken out of the system is a dollar that doesn’t need to be repaid to that particular retiree. Since the overall burden would be smaller the general fund would be more capable of supporting the smaller system.

According to initial ideals, the startup of this program would be one third of your social security benefits being put into your PSA. Taking the 2004 OASI from earlier, if left in a vacuum, we are left with 372 billion in the system. We are not in a vacuum though and will be subject to several external forces that may equate with a greater or smaller reduction in overall OASI.

As a sub-system within this program the extra money that is to be gained over the current system is at a minimum 9% more than Social Security's COLA adjustments per year. This is according to the total return on stocks after inflation for the past 50 years (From 1950-1999) as compared with COLA, or straight inflation adjustment. (Sharp, 414)

The first thing that we need to do to this 9.73% is to remove the 1% handling fee accorded to the model we are using for PSA, The Thrift Savings Plan. (TSP.GOV) This leaves us with an average of 8.73% gain on the current Social Security plan annually. The true rate of your return can vary by choosing either the G, F, C, S or I varieties of mutual funds or even lose money in the event of something completely catastrophic. (The two years after 9/11 were two such years.)

Some of the additional 8.73% on average could even go towards funding the aging Social Security structure. I believe 2% would bring in approximately four billion in free revenues. It would still leave an average annual gain of 6.73% over COLA for the individual per year.

Another potential hazard is something called the ripple effect. This is where you take a large sum of money and pump it into the stock market, artificially boosting stock prices. In the stock market’s need to retain stability the stock will flux downward to adjust for the real worth of a stock. It will retain several smaller ripples to the initial drop of 202 billion into the market, and eventually level off slightly higher than if no influx of cash were ever made.

To put this in perspective, Toys ‘R’ Us recently agreed to they buyout figure of 6.6 billion dollars. (MSN Money) The stock for this company instantly increased 8%. For the same 8% push from the 202 billion dropped into PSA’s you would only need to invest in 31 total companies. Each of the five TSP funds has several times more than this. (The C fund matches the S&P 500, or Standard and Poor’s top 500 performing stocks.)

Increasing the tax burden on Social Security has had success in preventing the total melt down of the system. It has also had some adverse effects on GDP. This is a basic principle of economics theorized under “Tax Incidence and Efficiency Loss. (McConnell, 652) The more you tax people, the less money there is to be taxed. This system contains an equilibrium point that we are currently close to already. Unless you plan on getting creative with how you tax people, like raising the payroll tax cap from 80,400 to something like 100,000, then you will have potentially created an economic recession, or at a minimum, a decrease in economic and tax revenue progression. The biggest question you would need to ask is if we are currently at, above or below our tax versus income equilibrium.

The third option on the table is that of changing the age of retirement. Currently the ages of retirement are 62 for your minimum available payout, 67 for your full payout (if you were born after 1960), and up to 70 for an extra payout. Theoretically, you could raise each of these ages by one or two and reap an overall tax savings of hundreds of billions of dollars. It would make sense too. People are living longer than ever before. The overall benefits per individual would be reduced to a more manageable level and you would be matching your system to a longer living society. Unfortunately, this would only delay the inevitable by one or two years. Politicians, being who they are, would more than likely spend the money in other programs and in turn have nothing left over for our seniors. They did it before in the 1990s when there was a surplus in the general fund that could have gone to insure Social security but chose to retire some of the national debt held by the public. (Sharp, 413)

So there you have it, three distinctly different alternatives to the problem of social security. Each system holds its benefits and drawbacks for implementation. The wrangling you hear on either side of the political fence is greatly exaggerated. You hear about how Bush plans to destroy the system through private accounts. (AARP) You hear how no one could feasibly survive on Social Security as it stands today. (CATO Institute) It appears the only thing they can agree on, now, is that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. That wasn’t even the case a month ago. You heard several voices of Democrat origins claim there was absolutely no problem. This is false. There is a very real problem that needs to be addressed immediately; not tomorrow or next year, today. The only way to destroy Social Security is to do nothing about it. We need to fix it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sharp, Ansel M., Register, Charles A., and Grimes, Paul W., Economics of Social Issues. 16th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2004.

McConnel, Campbell R., Brue, Stanley L., Economics. 14th ed. Irwin/McGraw-Hill. 1999

Social Security Administration (SSA): Retirement age and benefits quotes:
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10035.html

Social Security Administration (SSA): SSA Retirement Calculator
http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/AnypiaApplet.html

Congressional Budget Office (CBO): Current costs of Social Security: http://cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4380&sequence=0

Comments from week 10 Strayer Online ECO405 Professor Kim, Hong-Jin: http://www.strayeronline.net/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=2134217&CPURL=
www.strayeronline.net&Survey=1&amp;47=1016618&ClientNodeID=421648&coursenav=0

Thrift Savings Plan: http://www.tsp.gov/

MSN Money: Toys R Us buyout
http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/17/news/fortune500/toysrus/

Crossposted at: Blogger News Network

Social Security - Condensed

2005-03-20T17:15:00.000-05:00

There is a full version coming shortly that will expand on this topic in much greater detail coming later tonight. It will prove the conjectures presented here.

Social Security will go bankrupt in five to fifteen years. There are three viable ways of preventing this from happening; Personal Savings Accounts, increasing or modifying the social security tax (yes, it's a friggin' tax, not a donation), or modifying the age at which benefits are reached.

Personal savings accounts (PSA), in reality, do nothing to directly change the Social Security deficit. What they do is put a portion of your funds into a more direct account that you can have some control over, albeit very little. The only deficit benefit reached through PSA's are a reduced overall Social Security system that can be funded more easily through the general fund. Afraid that the start up costs would kill us? Think again. The Thrift Savings Plan has been in effect for several years and runs at an overhead of only one percent.

As a sub-system within this program the extra money that is to be gained over the current system is at a minimum 9% more than Social Security's COLA adjustments per year. I'm sure some brilliant Senator or Congressman has already eyed this pot of money for his or her private tax dollars. Some of it could go to fund the outdated Social Security system, maybe 2% would suffice? It would still leave an average annual gain of 7% over COLA for the individual per year.

Increasing the tax burden on Social Security has had success in preventing the total melt down of the system. It has also had some adverse effects on GDP. If any of you have taken a basic college economics class you would be familiar with the static rules for taxes vs. available funds for GDP. The more you tax people, the less money there is to be taxed. This system contains an equilibrium point that we are currently close to already. Unless you plan on getting creative with how you tax people, like raising the payroll tax cap from 80,400 to something like 100,000, then you will have potentially created an economic depression.

The third option on the table is that of changing the age of retirement. Currently the ages of retirement are 62 for your minimum available payout, 67 for your full payout (in most cases), and 70 for extra payout. Theoretically, you could raise each of these ages by one or two and reap an overall tax savings of hundreds of billions of dollars. It would make sense too. People are living longer than ever before. Unfortunately, this would only delay the inevitable by one or two years. Politicians, being who they are, would more than likely spend the money in other programs and in turn have nothing left over for our seniors.

Hopefully this has piqued your interest ever so slighly as to what could happen to Social Security. We really are in dire straights right now. The full data and essay will be available later tonight. I just thought you would like a sampler.

Houses Suck

2005-03-19T20:34:00.000-05:00

Some of you may know my woes about heating and cooling. For a few years now I had to turn off my older computer because it would overheat and reboot. In the winter we would freeze. It was not a pleasant experience.

A few days ago we noticed that our thermostat had started kicking into Emergency Heat all by itself and then proceed to blow cold air. Our first thought was that it was the thermostat. It was old, really old. It was mercury powered old. We figured it had given up the ghost. If it hadn't it would be good to have a newer thermostat anyway.

I went to Lowes, picked up a cheap $40 digital one and thought it would be good. Little did I know that EM Heat was a special feature and there were no less than seven wires behind the old mercury thermostat. So, after returning that one and picking up the super, monster, do everything except do dishes for you, $80 programmable that would do EM Heat it was installed.

The problem did not abate itself. The exact same problem occurred, exept this time it was called AUX Heatand was in digital. Luckily we have friends that have A/C Heating and Repair freinds. We were shocked to be informed that the AC unit we had was the oldest one he had ever seen. It was 25 years old. He gave us the option of a quick $250 resealing and cleaning or the more costly but more needed replacement offer. For $3,395 we could have a complete brand new 3 1/2 ton Ducane AC and Heating system. Tomorrow we shall see if the new system does any better than the old one. There goes our new fence budget for the year.

The end is not yet here from our house woes. Today we woke up to no hot water either. The hot water heater is only about two years old. There is no way we lost both elements early. So, after checking the breaker about five times we called the same freind that knew the AC guy. Luckily, the guy we called is an electrician and came over faster than Dominoes. We were both puzzled. The system turned out to be getting no power. We checked the breaker and everything seemed to be in working order. On a wild hunch, he individually reset every single breaker except for the main.

Thank God for friends. Without them I'd be putting that damn thing up on the market tomorrow. Even with a crappy AC and no hot water I'm sure I could still pull off $250,000-$300,000. Thank God for a great housing economy.

Allah or Jesus

2005-03-19T00:14:00.000-05:00

Have you ever heard of a guy by the name of Rick Mathes? Well, I have. I received an e-mail the other day from him the other day and remembered the name from somewhere but couldn't place it. Google is my friend.

Rick is the prison minister that completely annihilated a Muslim Imam when he came to speak at his prison. He sent me an article entitled "LETTER TO IRAQI PATRIOTS" for potential publishing, but I'm going to post the "Allah or Jesus" article that gained him some notoriety:

ALLAH OR JESUS

I attended my annual training session that's required for maintaining my state prison security clearance and during the training session there was a presentation by three speakers who represented the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faiths who explained their belief systems. I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say.

The Imam gave a great presentation of the basics of Islam complete with a video. After the presentations, time was provided for questions and answers. When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked: “Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that all of the Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world. And, that by killing an infidel, which is a command to all Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?"

There was no disagreement with my statements and without hesitation he replied, "Non-believers!"

I responded, “So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can go to heaven. Is that correct?”

The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, “Yes.”

I then said, “Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope John Paul commanding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Pat Robertson or Dr. Stanley ordering Protestants to do the same in order to go to heaven.”

The Imam was speechless.

I continued, “I also have problem with being your friend when you and your brother clerics are telling your followers to kill me. Let me ask you a question…would you rather have your Allah who tells you to kill me in order to go to heaven or my Jesus who tells me to love you because I am going to heaven and wants you to be with me?”

You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame.

Chuck Colson once told me something that has sustained me these 20 years of prison ministry. He said to me, “Rick, remember that the truth will prevail.”

And it will!

In my minds eye, this seems a bit extreme, and only represents one Imam's ideas and not the entirety of the Muslim religion...or does it?

But don't take it from me, go to the source, Rick Mathes.

More music

2005-03-18T23:29:00.000-05:00

It's about time I changed the music a bit in here. Go listen to "Shady Grove" by Celtic Soul. just click the play button over on the right.

Terri Schiavo update

2005-03-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I haven't said anything about Terri in a while, 'cept to eat a troll over at Holy Tornado...man they're tasty. Today has been a rather important day in the case.

Lets see, congress tried to get her to testify about Jason Giambi taking steroids...oops, sorry. That was the wrong congressional subpeona. She was subpeona'd to speak on behalf of people that have around 30 written statements from doctors saying you can get better, but being classified PVS because a judge deems it so. I think that's what it's about, right? We live in a really crappy place when a state judge is capable of deciding federal law. And I thought it was DOCTORS that had a god complex.

Anyway, back to the case at hand.

Relax everyone. Terri will not be dying any time soon. The House and the Senate are working right now to finalize the wording for the act that will prevent things like this from happening. If the Democrats think a fillibuster is called for I may have to shoot a few of them myself. Maybe I could give a few of them PVS while I'm at it.

Honestly, you shouldn't be listening to me on this matter. I'm just a poor source for this stuff. Roll on over to Cao's Blog. She's been rolling full steam ahead since this thing began. The only people I might give more props to on this are Hyscience and Blogs For Terri...maybe.

As bloggers we have done something to be proud of: We have made the Lesgistive branch take action to save a life.

No Time to Blog

2005-03-18T08:03:00.000-05:00

I've been pressed to the limit for time this week. I have very little time to blog. In the meantime, go visit another one of my creations: Solomon's House If not for my template talent, but for the guy's sporadic and on target commentary.

Since I'm doing this in notepad, waiting for blogger to load, I have a moment to talk about Yemen. Jane, over at Armies of Liberation has a petition running, and would like you to sign it if you haven't already. Several middle east nations are buckling under to new found democracy and Yemen should not be one of the places left behind. GO make yourself count. Go sign the petition. You don't have to write anything fancy, you just have to stamp your big red X on some digital paper. The petition is to free a journalist who spoke out against the president of Yemen, who is also the superior judge there. You've heard of freedom of the press, right?

Sign the Petition!!

Last, but not least, how do you like the color change? I think I'm going to keep the sidebar color, because it makes things pop a bit more. I might change the center back to the tan color. Any ideas, let me know what you think.

The Day For Green Beer!

2005-03-17T04:14:00.000-05:00

It's Saint Patrick's day! Woo Hoo! You can't pinch me! I went green!

For those that are looking for something a little more traditional and can't get to Ireland today to kiss the Blarney Stone, I've brought all that magic home with me. Just pucker up and smooch on the big green X.

Now tonight be sure that it is the beer that remains green and not your stomach!

Buy my stuff

2005-03-17T02:39:00.000-05:00

I finally broke down and got a Cafepress site. Yes, the thong is there in case you're wondering. It's just not a Cafepress site without a thong! I just started it up and if you want to see a different design let me know and we can hook that up. Until then, go buy some T-Shirts!

[I have coffee mugs too!]
[Wouldn't it be cool to have a shirt that just says: American Warmonger?]

Guys! I'm RETIRED!

2005-03-16T22:44:00.002-05:00

Okay, it all started with Rusty from The Jawa Report breaking through his millionth hit. Honestly, it couldn't happen to a nicer blogger. He really deserves the traffic and has been rather kind to me throughout the blog-years (months). I congratulate Rusty on making a mark that many other bloggers may never reach. (Coincidentally, I just went over 15,000, just to put things in perspective.)

The intreaguing part is the comment he put in his millionth post:

GM Roper is trying to replace American Warmonger as the new King of Blogs competition. He's got my vote.

Really, I appreciate the link, but it sounds like Rusty has chosen sides between me and GM Roper....or at least that's how someone took it. The same statement could also mean:

GM Roper is vying for the crown that American Warmonger will be handing down after his forced retirement after three wins in the King of blogs tournament. I vote for him. So should you.

Sure, it's a little more wordy, but it solves problems like this:

Rusty at The Jawa Report says: "GM Roper is trying to
replace American Warmonger as the new King of Blogs
competition. He's got my vote."

I'd like to publish a 1-paragraph campaign statement
(50 words or so) from each of you about why you should
be King of Blogs. Are you game?

I'll include a link to both blogs.

Thanks!

Brian Blazevic

San Diego, California

The whole thing seems a bit funny to me. I think Rusty understood the situation, but wrote it in such a way as someone became confused. I'll give them both the benefit of the doubt. It doesn't mean I can't have fun with it. So, Brian, here's my paragraph in 50 words or less:

I do not know if I am a better king. I do know who the three judges are though: Songstress7, Mr. Ober, and PIETRO, not Nick Queen. I am also familiar with what makes the judges happy. After three consecutive wins and retirement you sort of learn these things.

Word Count: 49

Gee, I hope I win!...Okay, this has become a noteriety piece. I have to give it up to GM Roper. I'll be tracking this back the the KOTB and voting for him as well.

One more thing: New Eagle has me on his blogroll. I shall reciprocate.

Thank you

2005-03-15T23:19:00.000-05:00

Well, I should have done this yesterday but was way too busy to think. Now that I've been able to assemple my thoughts, I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me, trackbacked, left nice comments, or otherwise pledged your support. You know who you are, but others do not, so here goes the list of people I know about:

FlightPundit
Daisy Cutter
Patty-Jo
Julie with a B (and all three of her work computers)
R-Cubed
Holy Tornado Pirate's Cove
Silver Surfer 9090
Dr. Sanity
West Coast Chaos

If I missed your name let me know and I'll fix it.

Again, thank-you everybody!

I would also like to thank the judges for being wonderful sports about my constant abuse of the english language. If I ever need an editor I'll know where to turn.

Songstress7 from News From the Great Beyond (I still can't remember your real name.)
Ogre from Ogre's Politics and Views
Pietro From SmarterCop

The judges are only part of this though. I would like to thank the people that run this whole she-bang:

Nick Queen (Who is a real king among men...and just nominated me for the promised land!)
Christweb (who seems to be down.)
King of Fools

Most of all, I'd like to thank all of Munuviana for hosting such an event. Without them none of this would be possible. (Does this qualify as suck up points for the Ellis Island vote?)

COMING SOON....

2005-03-14T18:41:00.000-05:00

...to a blogosphere near you.

Pumping Pixels

Getting tired of that tired looking blogger template? Having problems getting your Movable Type to move? Getting the full court press for trying to play with Wordpress?

We are Hanz and Franz and we are guaranteed to pump your blog up!

Have you noticed the lack of testosterone in blog design? Tired of blog designers that make you look like a girlie man? Are you a girlie man that want's to fake it?

We are here to help bring some muscle back to blog design. The bloginators are coming to restore your symmetry.

[Steroids not included. Llamas on request.]
[We can do kickin' blogs for girls as well!]

Blogger News is getting old...

2005-03-14T15:35:00.000-05:00

...well okay, Blogger News has just turned one month old. There is a call out for centrist and left minded bloggers to counteract people like me.

They're also looking for someone to design a cool banner and several buttons. I already have a few buttons on the way. I still need to work on a few banners, but the contest is open to all of the BNN members.

If you think you have what it takes to pontificate as good as a windbag like me go ahead and sign up. At last count there were 77 writers and growing. I think I may need to invite Orcinus if he hasn't already been invited. I've heard he's a good solid lefty.

Trusting NZ Bear

2005-03-14T15:03:00.000-05:00

Well, I've re-added my Alliance blogroll and the TTLB thingie...with a twist. I've also rearanged some of my stuff to accomodate the massiveness of the Alliance blogroll. If things start to get slow again let me know and I'll ditch the blogroll again.

In the meantime, check out the music by Queenie. She's much more mellow than I'm accustomed to, but she's really got a nice clean voice.

Marines driven out of UAW lot

2005-03-13T19:47:00.000-05:00

for having Bush bumper stickers?

Can you say asinine? I knew ya' could!

"While reservists certainly have the right to drive nonunion made vehicles and display bumper stickers touting the most anti-worker, anti-union president since the 1920s, that doesn't mean they have the right to park in a lot owned by the members of the UAW," the union said in a statement released Friday.

Great, leave it to the unions to segregate free speech. I thought it was us Repugs to try and silence people.

Sorry, I forgot, we're talking about the mafia...er...unions. Maybe if American car companies could produce something worth while people wouldn't drive the most dependable vehicles on the road. Maybe it's the American car companies that haven't been "always faithful" (Semper Fidelis)? Here's some data on that:

Lower score is better:
1. Lexus - Japanese
2. Buick - Who drives a buick?
3. Infiniti - Japanese
4. Lincoln - Who can afford a Lincoln?
5. Cadillac - Repeat the Lincoln line.
6. Honda - Japanese
7. Acura - Japanese
8. Toyota - Japanese (seeing the pattern yet?)
9. Mercury - Crazy 'bout a Mercury? Me neither.
10. Porsche - Porsche is more reliable than a Ford, GMC or Chevrolet?

J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Vehicle Dependability Study

Anyone surprised by the list? I'm not. Both the Focus I now own and the Escort I used to own, both new, came defect free. Both had to be taken into Ford for repairs before the 36,000 mile mark. They also had several factory recalls for various things as well.

I'll start supporting the UAW when they start supporting me again. THe Marine commander, Lt. Col. Joe Rutledge or the 1st Battalion 24th Marines feels similarly:

"You either support the Marines or you don't," said Lt. Col. Joe Rutledge, commanding officer of the battalion's active duty instructors. "I'm telling my Marines that they're no longer parking there."

It's okay Col. they stopped supporting the U.S. many years ago.

Hat Tip: Sir George of The Anti-Idiotarian Rotweiler

Human rights off China agenda

2005-03-13T18:44:00.000-05:00

Our stupid news of the day comes to us via Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer. What a fitting name.

"If you try to get into a trade negotiation ... if you make human rights issues conditions of trade negotiations that will be rejected with China, or for that matter with any other country," he said on ABC radio.

"You're not going to succeed in getting the human rights agenda mixed with the trade agenda.

"You won't get the free trade agreement and you won't get any improvements in human rights.

"So it's a symbolic thing to do, but it would be utterly fruitless."

Sorry for the pun: It seems like he's a real Downer.

So what other leverage does the world have over China or any other country than its right to free trade? China has been a Communist country for many years. They bank on thier ability to produce goods for other countries. If we can get the international backing to cut of trade, start an embargo, restrict trade, etc. then China will have no choice but to deal with their problems.

Another unregistered factor is their new president is the closest thing they've had to a democratic model of a president in recent history, and quite possibly ever. President Hu has been the young upstart in the Chinese government that seems to have the silver tongue that everyone listens to. If you can get him to understand that his country will suffer if they keep up with their bad human rights record then maybe the country will follow.

Of course, you can always just be a Downer and think with your pocketbook.

The best unknown blog on the web

2005-03-13T00:59:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm delacring myself the best unknown blog on them web. Why am I doing this? Well, it's because I'm vain. No, really folks. Head on over to the TTLB and look through the links and tell me one soul in the top 200 that gets an average hit count of LESS than 200 a day. Did I stump you? Yeah, I thought I did.

Okay, there's ONE guy I know that's in the same boat: William Teach of Pirate's Cove. I think the only difference between him and me is that he's been launched by a couple of his articles. Well, that's not entirely true. I was Jawalaunched once, a very long time ago. This was back before even Shack was getting big numbers.

To be completely honest, the most hits I've ever had in one day is around 220-230. The only reason I was that high was because I saved up all of my Blogexplosion! points and released them all on the same day.

The only reason I write this is because I'm about to go over the 100 threshold...maybe. I'm sitting at 114 today and in 47 more links I'll be in the top 100. This is a really wierd predicament. Maybe it's just that bloggers love me but regular people hate me? I dunno, whatever.

End confused, upside down rant.

I am the KING!...of sucking up.

2005-03-12T01:18:00.000-05:00

In the last episode of this I did a little Jack Spade impersonation. In this one I'm just gonna whip it out. I've had a bit of happy juice so screw it all.

BEGIN THE PORNOCOPIA OF LINKS!!!

Songstress7 of News From The Great Beyond:

Writer's Block. Everyone gets it. In fact, I sort of have it myself right now. The best remedy is to just grab the closest meme, or any unfinished post you have available and just do it. It's not about putting something out that matters it's about breaking the lock. Fifty other bloggers already say the exact same thing? I doesn't matter. If what you write turns out to be the absolutely worst thing you've ever written it is still better than writing nothing.

Usually, what works for me when I'm a bit off is poetry. Just sit and stew about your feelings for a while and come back to the canvas (keyboard) and just whip it out. Don't spell check a damn thing until after you've published it. If you go back and look at what you've written you'll just delete it.

Ogre of Ogre's Politics and views:

I am incapable of linking to all of the fine posts you have put together in the past week. Yo have your iron in so many fires it is white hot. It can boost your traffic up to around 250-300, but after that it's sort of a vacant lot. You are at the top of the envelope from breaking into the mainstream, but you've got a hometown, christian based spirit at heart. If you have a choice of going big time or sticking with your roots, I hope you chose your roots...purely for selfish reasons.

Pietro of SmarterCop:

I can't really get to you too much. I've thrown up a couple of comments here and there. I've looked for some interaction, but you seem to be taking this judge thing pretty seriously. I can't get through. Kudos on your integrity.

As for what you're posting, I like the idea of a round up, but you may want to change it to a weekly deal, and only use your own material. You and Ogre have the same probelm: too many memes for one typist.

Good luck to all of the judges and remember that a threepeat would be really cool.

Linking up with the Joneses

2005-03-11T22:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm running out of good titles for this little link update post thing. The first thing I need to do is clear out some of my e-mail, so here goes:

A.J. van Hemert runs Data Source75, a link directory. Does he have original content? Nope. He's just a link hound. So am I. If you like links you'll love A.J.

SSG Anthony Roberts runs a blog called Jumping Without A Chute. Maybe he has actually done this, because when he asked me for a reciprocal link he forgot to include the name of his blog. Even after I asked for his blog name so I could reciprocate he only gave me the title of the blog. Thank the good Lord for Google. I know Mr. Roberts does, not because of me, but because he's a devout Catholic. He's also one of the many devout Schiavo case followers. Go read.

Don Surber is something I would consider something of a rarity. It's not because he's been a journalist for twenty odd years. It's not because he's a journalist that will actually respond to your e-mails personally. It's not even because he's a journalist from West Virginia. (Sorry, Don. I couldn't help a good West Virginia joke.) It's because he's a conservative journalist, of 20 years who will answer his friggin' inbox. And if you really want to get a good story ask him about senator Bob "Klansman" Byrd. Oh, and he pissed off the DU with an article he wrote. Way to go Don!

David has some Tangled Thoughts. I'm not completely sure, but I believe he's untangling them in his blog. He's half-Phillipino, half-white, all American that's in need of a J.O.B. after gratuating from Michigan. Go give him a shout out...and a job reference.

Thomas Nichols, aka Jack Army is a retired Special Forces guy with a laundry list of missions accomplished. If you'd like to read some good stuff from a guy who knows more than most Mr. Nichols is the guy for you. I know he probably doesn't know that I've been watching, but I can see hits coming from his site several times a day. In fact, I can feel your eyes on me right now!

Remember that e-mailing me or signing my guestmap will get you a reciprocating link and a snippet of article....and don't forget to support me for the last half hour of voting left for the King of Blogs tournament!

Double Standards

2005-03-11T20:21:00.000-05:00

This just in: Daniel Baldwin missed the last episode of "Celebrity Fit Club" due to his addiction on pain killers!

Please notice that I have no link for you. That's because it didn't make the news. The only way I found out about it was because my wife was watching Extra! and I just happened to catch his on-air confession.

Try as I might, I keep Googling "pain killer addiction fat guy" and all I get is Limbaugh. The only good information I'm getting from this is the Freepers. Can anyone else spell hypocrisy?

Before you go all stupid on me and start saying that actors and respected talk show hosts need to be held to different standards, rethink what you're about to say. The Baldwin family was one of the front running celebrity entities for the sKerry campaign. But hey, I'm sure Limbaugh pissed more people off so it's okay, right?

Just another example of flip-flopping, self-serving, hypocritical libbo whack jobs that run the media.

Social Security - The definitive answer

2005-03-10T19:21:00.000-05:00

Sorry everybody. I'm working diligently on my senior paper on social security. All I can give you right now is my outline. Bring your reading classes when it's complete. The requirements are for at least 10 pages....so basically it's only slightly longer than a regular post. If anyone knows where to get good data on the topic I'm ready and waiting:

Into

Defining the crisis
When does the s*** hit the fan for real
bring up the fact that SS is now in the general fund (now a general tax burden)

Options for fixing it

Personal accounts
Pros & cons (need a chart following age vs start of accounts
examples in action
explain about the riple effect
charting the progress of thrift savings plan

Raising the retirement age
pros & cons (chart the rising age of death and normal retirement age)
examples in history

Increasing the tax burden
calculate the tax burden through the age vs needs chart
give the numbers at it's max badness to keep system afloat
explain unpopularity

Resolution
how fair are these options?
is race or gender an issue?
rate the three options on the table

That's it for now. Check back later to see how it progresses. FOr now, just GO VOTE!!!

Happy Belated blogday to Songstress7

2005-03-09T16:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm no Frank Sinatra, or even Nancy Sinatra. Please don't dog me out too hard for this.

I was going to bake you a cyber cake as well, but I couldn' get the candles lit. Besides, it's no fun if you can't lick the frosting.

Sam Spade in The Case of The Missing Cop

2005-03-08T23:46:00.000-05:00

Turning quickly I saw trouble walk in my door in the shape of a nine year old, completely unexpected, and completely unwanted. Normally I wouldn’t mind, but I was on a case, a big one. Pietro, the SmarterCop, had gone missing the day before a big three partied verdict was supposed to come down, and Pietro was one of the judges. The last thing I needed was this songstress busting into my office and raising a stink.

I suppose it was my own damn fault though. I was busy with another case and missed her blogday. Damned carnival case had me slaving away day and night. I barely had time enough to keep things running at the office, let alone get her a blogday present. I hope I can talk my way out of this one without taking too much collateral damage.

“Where were you last Tuesday?” she said, trying to bait me.

“I was on a case Sweet Thing. You know the one. We took down that Pelosi broad.” I said, "Look, I’m sorry I missed your blogday, but it’s work. These crooks ain’t gonna’ catch themselves. What can I do to make it up to you?”

I knew it was better to tell the truth with this than let it linger. She’d have me begging for mercy if she thought I'd forgotten. It didn’t matter though. I’d fallen into her trap. I asked her what I could do. I won’t make that mistake again.

She sidled over to my desk and leaned across it in that playful way only your own daughter can give you. She took her big brown eyes and stared intently into my soul, and with a slightly devilish grin she said, “LINKS! I want LINKS, Daddy! I want lots and lots of them, trackbacks too!”

She got up and started strolling back and forth from one end of the desk to the other while examining the edge. “You see, Daddy, no one did anything for my blogday party last week and I feel like nobody loves me anymore, not even you Daddy. I went though a whole tub of rocky road waiting for you to come home, and you never came. Nobody came.”

“The whole tub?” I repeated, “I was wondering where the ice cream went. Okay Honey. I’ll get you your links, but not tonight. I’ve got to work on the Pietro case. He’s gone missing.”

“Pietro’s gone missing?” She said with surprise. “Who would want to take the SmarterCop? Everyone loves him.”

“That’s what I’ve got to figure out Dear. I’ll make it up to you when this case is over, I promise.” I said as I turned back to my work, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a few people coming to the office. I’ll need you to take a seat and do your homework until the meeting is over.”

“Okay, Daddy.” She said.

She bounced over to the heavy, dark leather chair in the corner of my office. Pleased with her negotiation skills, she flopped down, turned on the antique lamp standing next to the chair and pulled out her homework. As usual, the first book she pulled out was her English book.

I’ll never understand why she always does her English homework first. She’s never missed a single comma or period, her tests are perfect and her writing skills are better than the average journalist. That one’s going to be either a writer or an English teacher when she grows up. As long as she doesn’t start correcting my writing we’ll be just fine.

About ten minutes went by and in walked Ogre. Ogre was a mountain of a man, six-foot two and every bit of two hundred fifty pounds of pure muscle. I’ve dealt with some trolls in my time, muscle-bound freaks that look pretty but will start crying for their mommy with a good punch to the gut, but this was Ogre. If you did that to him he’d just give you a smile and show you how you could have hit him harder.

“Alright, I’m here. Who are you and what’s this about? I need to be back at the llama ranch in an hour.” Said Ogre.

“The name’s Spade, Sam Spade,” I shot back, “and I’m getting everybody together to get to the bottom of this case.”

“Case?” Said Ogre.

“Yeah, Peitro’s gone missing. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” I Said.

“Pietro? Who’s Pietro?” asked Ogre, “Wait, isn’t he that SmarterCop guy? The one that came up missing for last week’s Verdi-”

“Hey, waitaminute! You don’t think I had anything to do with that, now do you?” spat Ogre, offended. “I barely know the guy! What would I have to do with this?”

“Patience.” I said in a soothing voice. “Have a seat over by my little songstress and just relax. We’ll get to the bottom of this once everyone’s here.”

“Everybody better hurry up. I’ve got to..”

“I know, I know. You’ve got a date with a llama named Steve. This shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.”

Ogre strolled over and eased back into the heavy, dark leather chair in the other corner of my office. My wife got a really good deal on them the day after Thanksgiving last year. Black Friday has always been a favorite of hers. The excitement she gets is the same as other people get on Christmas, what a shopper that one.

After about five minutes, Mike and Dean came walking in.

Mike, the one with the shaved head and punk jacket had just come off of a bad relationship with Paris Hilton. He kept calling and calling until she finally had to file a restraining order against him. He got even though. I'm sure you heard about her mobile phone getting hacked and pictures showing up on the Internet, right?

Dean was different. Dean was a quiet sort of guy that never said nothing to nobody. He just did his job and went home. I don’t even think he had a girlfriend. Those are the types you have to watch out for, the quiet ones. You never know what they’re thinking. It means they’re guilty of something. They don’t want to say anything for fear of spilling the beans.

Ted Kaczynski was a quiet one, hiding up in the hills like a hermit. He turned out to be The Unabomber. I wonder what Dean’s hiding? I’ll be keeping an eye out for him. Yeah, I had Dean earmarked early. He’s the one that did it. I was just going to have to beat it out of him.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I brought you here when the police could handle a matter like this.” I said. “Well the chief of police, Nick Queen, thinks Pietro’s absence is an inside job and felt like his good pal Sam could help him out with the case. That’s what I’m here to do, get to the bottom of it. One of you did it. No one else had the access or motive to make him disappea…”

Just then Pietro walked in like nothing had happened. Everyone turned as white as a ghost. My daughter jumped out of her chair and flew into his harms.

“Uncle Pietro!” She cried, as she leapt into his arms. “We thought you were dead or something.”

“Dead?” He inquired as he looked around at everyone’s pleasantly surprised expressions. “ I just went away for the weekend. I sent out an e-mail on Thursday that I’d be out for the weekend and sent my verdict in early. Didn’t you get that memo?”

“You’ve got mail”

Everyone’s eyes turned to the laptop on my desk. It was the e-mail Pietro had sent on Thursday, nearly a week late. WOW! We really need a faster network.

Rock the Vote!

2005-03-08T15:31:00.000-05:00

Well, it's week three as my reign as King of blogs, and I face some of the stiffest competition yet. It does not appear that I will be able to rest on my laurels with this one. Both of the pretenders have excellent website design. I'm not sure that my regular works will fair that well against them either.

I have two potential saving graces:

1. My challenge piece could completely blow their doors off. I've been pretty good with this part before, but there's no telling what the judges will be expecting from a returning king.

2. I need your votes and trackbacks. Currently, I'm tied in the vote category. I need you to go vote, and vote often. Did you know that you can vote multiple times throughout the day? You can vote about every three hours. As for trackbacks, no one has provided one this week, and it was the category that really put me over last week. Never underestimate the power of a little blurb. Three points are three points. I'll take them any way I can get them.

Hail to the king!

Need more incentive? How's this:
If I don't win I will subject everyone to a photo of myself in a THONG! Teach, your Hillary and Boxer photos are bad, but you should not subject the world to this. Rock the vote!

Cramming more stuff into the blog

2005-03-08T14:36:00.000-05:00

Yes folks! I've managed to pack just one more thing into my blog. I have put my resume in HTML and linked to it directly under my profile. I also moved the posts about me moseover section there as well.

As for my blog development, I've done:

American Warmonger

Dr. Sanity

Life or Something Like It

Currently in development are:

Solomon's House

HERE

Holy Tornado

I'm sure you have noticed all but one of these use the same template. Don't worry about that. I can do multiple styles. For some reason, people just like the style that fits the screen.

So, now that you've seen my portfolio, do you feel like I'm ready to go pro? Looking over at Web-Divas and Elegant Webscapes, I'm not that far off the mark when it comes to professional design. In fact, I've got the marketing idea to cater to guys, since everyone else is doing girls. What do you think?

La'Migra!

2005-03-07T01:39:00.000-05:00

As I write this the 109th session of congress is deliberating over what they perceive as the last piece to the puzzle of homeland security. I doubt that they will make any headway with the weak and understated proposals on the table. The Real ID act is a waste of paper that will only cause illegal aliens to be driving illegally. The Dream Act, which allows illegal aliens that have gone through our school systems to get in-state tuition at colleges, is a slap in the face to security. Even the field act, the one that permits law enforcement to work on immigration issues, falls short of doing any real good.

No, I'm not going to whine about the sorry state of immigration and how the government is wasting our time. I'm going to offer some solutions. They are my solutions, and I come from a place that has an intimate understanding of the front end of immigration control. So let's get this ball rolling at the source: The INS:

The INS (Immigration and Nationalization Service) has been traditionally one of the slowest and most ridiculous branches of the government we have. Go down to your local INS office and try to get something done on your lunch hour. Unless you've got all of your paperwork completed and bribed your way to the head of the line you will not make it in time.

The painful slowness doesn't end there. Imagine you need to do something other than get a simple visa. Imagine you need to file your paperwork for permanent residency. Your one time, two hour long wait has now turned into at least three separate two hour long waits and potentially a three hour long interview after the year and a half you've waited for them to complete your paperwork.

If it sounds like I have some personal vestment in this waste of agency you're right. My wife is a Korean national. The two years from entry in country to permanent resident status was my wife's. It was not three visits with an interview it was six. Three of those times were to get the proper paperwork (still with a two hour wait) because they didn't understand what a PDF was. Fortunately, our interview only took 30 minutes to an hour. Eventually she wants to get her citizenship but if we have to deal with those knuckleheads again I don't know if she'll ever be sworn in.

The reason that politicians don't go really dig into immigration is because the entire system needs to be completely redone from the top down. Let me explain in detail:

To their credit, the INS has made filing and printing most of your paperwork much easier to do. Much of their paperwork is now in PDF format and capable of being filed online. However, everything sent to them via e-file still has to be printed out and ferreted around to their paper laden desks. Hearken back, if you will, to the newsy days when your inbox was actually a wooden box and not sponsored by Microsoft Outlook. This is where they still sit. It is still done by pen and ink, not pixels. The solution to this is quite simple to anyone smart enough to have heard of a digital signature. Take away the paper and make their processes electronic.

Now what does this have to do with aliens? How does that help terror at home? Remember this: Many of the terrorists involved with the actions of 9/11 were already on an international watch list for terror. The slow and inefficient paper filing of the INS allowed them to live in this country unadulterated for years. There was, and is, no digital database for all of the INS paperwork. It is still put on pieces of paper and stuffed in one of many filing cabinets to collect dust. With digital filing and processing they could create an instantly accessible database nationally or even internationally.

I know a little bit of work has been done with this but it only catches a few people, like Cat Stephens. Some have said the system they have is nearly impossible to keep up with, and unlikely to be of any use. Knowing that Cat or Allah or whatever his alias is this week, donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Hamas is good enough for me. Keep him in Europe where they sympathize with moonbats. The system is flawed and does need improvements, vast improvements. Oracle has a good product that could easily be used to database everything in the INS. They could even tie it in with Social Security. For those out there that believe this is an impossible task ask yourself how credit card companies do it. If MasterCard can find you when you miss a payment then why can't the INS if you stayed late on your visa? They're dragging their feet. Don't let them fool you.

Now that I've gotten that piece off my chest let me address the three aforementioned proposals:

At 8 to 12 million aliens there is absolutely no way to send them all back to where they came from. Much of our land was once their land. L.A. stands for Los Angeles, the city of Angels. It was named by the locals and not the cowboys that took over and sent them all to Mexico. There was a war about it and unless we want to declare war on L.A. I think we need to take the suggested approach and streamline a system for undocumented workers.

Here is my approach for doing this:

We need to have a moratorium for undocumented workers in America. All those in the country without paperwork would have a set amount of time in which to find a job and file paperwork for moratorium status. They would not be provided full citizenship but would be protected as a migrant worker residing in the United States. I would give a period of three months in which to find a job and file paperwork as a migrant worker. Anyone unable to comply with this would be subject to immediate deportation. If we have to rent busses or semi-trucks for one mass drop then that's what we'll have to do. They will have been given their golden opportunity and if they choose to ignore it they can suffer the consequences.

Those that have filed paperwork (or e-filed, preferably) would be given the opportunity to file for citizenship in two years time of continuous work with no break in employment greater than four months in total unpaid unemployment. I know the influx of 8 to 12 million filers would be considered daunting to the current INS but again, if the go digital and streamline their aged systems it could be just slightly better than absolute chaos. The standard citizenship procedures would apply including the test and interview but those with an employer's recommendation would get priority in paperwork processing. Hopefully, that would assist in prioritizing processing and additionally aid in reducing fraud.

What about the people crossing our borders everyday to find work?

They do the jobs we don't want to do. They do the jobs that our kids don't even want to do. They pick our cabbages, strawberries, blueberries, and tomatoes. They do all this because it's a better life than they had before. The people who employ them know they're paying them slave wages. They give them no medical support and are not above beating them because they know they won't say anything for fear of being deported. My above solution will help those that are already here, but does nothing for those who flood the borders every day.

Something California has tried to do now and again is create a migrant worker visa. These are people that would cross the border in the morning, work in our fields and go back to Mexico in the evening. Every time this proposition has hit the table it has been shot down by people who don't understand it. They are afraid that it will mean people will lose their jobs and those not losing their jobs would get paid less due to the foreign competition. What I propose is that in order to a position to be filled by a migrant worker it would need to be unemployable to the standard American. With the previous solution we may not have too many jobs available to fill but that will eventually change as those applying for citizenship gradually become more educated and thus retain more technical positions. It would only be used when citizens or migrant residents are unavailable or unwilling to take the jobs. It would also not be considered an "all or nothing" endeavor. If a farm needs 200 people to pick cabbage and half of those positions are filled with teenagers or migrant residents then the remaining 100 positions could be picked up by migrant workers.

This covers the problem of having jobs that no American or migrant resident would want but does little to quell the flow of illegal border traffic. The solution to this problem lies in making it so Mexicans do not need or want to cross the border looking for work. Some things I have become more familiar with as of late are tariffs and import taxes. It appears that one of the things keeping poor countries poor are the taxes levied against them for import goods. If we were to reduce those taxes and tariffs against high migration counties, such as Mexico, we would increase the real Gross Domestic Product of that country and ultimately increase the yearly salary of workers in Mexico and other countries. With increased pay and better living conditions available through the greater GDP there will be less of a desire to cross the border to find work. This may seem very nuanced, but it's really quite simple. If you can get them paid well in their own country they won't need to come infiltrate ours.

The third and final suggestion (Yes, I've got an end to this thing.) was to get tough on the borders. If what I have suggested above does not completely correct the problem, which I doubt anything will completely, we need to enhance the border guards to reduce the flow of undocumented workers/illegal aliens. Something I noticed while living on the border of San Diego and Tijuana was that the only people allowed to touch an unauthorized border crosser was The Border Patrol. The police have absolutely no jurisdiction unless they try to break into your house or make an attempt to harm you. Simply jumping over your six-foot tall fence and looking through your windows as they pass through is not enough to stir up the police.

It reminds me of the separation between the CIA and the FBI. It's a wall that doesn't need to be there. The police should be able to assist in border issues and vice versa. If we need to make it illegal to cross the border without papers for the police to get involved then that's what we have to do. I understand that legitimate police work takes precedence over border issues but I'm sure there could be some assistance in both directions.

Another solution to the manpower problem is the National Guard. Even with the current state of affairs in Iraq, we still have over 150,000 reservists that are cooling their heels at home. Would it be so difficult to have your one-month a year defending the border instead of running around in circles? Besides that, wouldn't the training they get ferreting out illegal aliens better training than any simulation could give them?

Hopefully, other people than me can realize that immigration reform is not going to come in the form of some small policy change or insignificant passing of a bill. It will require drastic measures that affect everyone. It will require politicians to step up to the plate and do what is right, not what will get them reelected.

Cross-posted at BNN

Disaster!

2005-03-06T03:31:00.000-05:00

The dear songstress7 of News From the Great Beyond has gone slightly off kilter. I feel like she has slighted me with her tongue. I am distraught. In her royal verdict for the week, found here, my score (and everyone elses) was halved for not providing the appropriate congratulatory praise due the original queen of blogs. You see, the congratulations I gave here was apparently not enough for the only female member of the blog triad of judges.

Forgive me fair queen. I made mention that the first would be a slow day of blogging for me due the creation of the challenge post I submitted. If you wish, you may consider it a blogday present and redistribute it under your own name. Say the word and I'll contact the BNN and have them change my name to yours.

I fear, however, that this post will fall on deaf ears. Well, Mrs. Songstress7, prepare for a blog orgy of linky lovin'.

Mr. Ogre, Mr. SmarterCop, don't worry. You're invited to this Caligula of linky lovin' as well. This may get so raw that someone may want to film it for trackbackaphiles.

CHALAZION!

2005-03-05T18:01:00.000-05:00

WTF is chalazion? My wife went to the plastic surgeon yesterday to have the doctor look at her chalazion. A plastic surgeon's is a neat place to visit. THe first nurse I saw had braces in for her "tooth bonding" and the one that checked us out was, well, displaying what plastic surgeons are known for, breast implants. It was like a walking billboard for the place she worked at. I wonder if she got a discount?

Hanging out anywhere you always grab a pamphlet or two without thinking. Here are the two I grabbed:

Cosmetic Eyelid Surgery
Breast Lift

Lets read the first paragraph from the breast lift pamphlet:

Breast Lift
A woman's breasts often chenge their youthful shape and firmness. These changes, including loss of skin elasticity, can result from pregnancy, breast-feeding, weight fluctuations, aging, and gravity. Heredity may also be a factor, and a woman in her teens may experience loose, sagging breast tissue. Breasts that have lost their firm, uplifted counours can affect a woman's self-image and confidence.

It looks like I have found a new meme. Okay, anybody wanting to duplicate this meme, here are the rules:

Pamphlet Meme

1. Grab a random pamphlet at random from any office that has them.
2. Include the pamphlet title and the first paragraph.
3. State where it came from.
4. Link back and trackback to where you got this meme from.

That should cover it.

Almost forgot. A chalazion is an inflamation of the cartilage in the eyelid that creates a bump the size of a beebee. It is removed and/or reshaped from the inside of the eyelid and does not require a suture. That's what my wife has.

Child Pornography - Follow-Up

2005-03-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and personal experiences about that portion of my job. In average, we get one of this sickos a month. It has become a pandemic that needs to be shut down somehow.

This may just be my opinion on the subject, but I believe the problem stems from the ready availability of pornography on the internet. I'm sure we could talk about that part of things for hours but the truth is that the legislators don't see this as a real problem and will not act.

The only way to do anything about the problem is to bring it up to our legislators. Even if we can't do things on a national level there are things we can do in our own communities. If I get the opportunity this weekend I'll try and draw something up for your perusal. If someone out there in the world wants to write one up on their own I'll have no problems in helping formulate it and sending copies to all of the legislators I can get a hold of.

Again, thanks for the moral support.

Disturbed - Child Pornography

2005-03-03T20:46:00.000-05:00

I am really not in a good state of mind right now. I'm not really sure I should be writing this, but I've got to get it out. Sometimes what is required of me at my network security job is more than one should endure. My hands are literally shaking.

Working in the network security field you tend to run into the odds and ends of society that really don't need to be walking among the general population. Most of the time it's some guy that thinks it would be really cool to try and hack into your network or open holes in your network with some stupid video game the want to bring into work. I think my favorite are the geniuses the think it's cool to plug their X-Boxes into the second largest intranet in the United States, NMCI, and think they won't get in trouble. I don't really get bothered by these people too much. You slap their hand, tell them to knock it off, and go about your business. It's kind of fun sometimes.

The other part of the job deals with a different sort of unauthorized activity: pornography. People who surf porn tend to throw us a lot of viruses. We usually find a couple of people surfing porn a week, but it's usually nothing too serious. Normally, they just bounce around the web for five minutes to a half hour, depending on personal stamina, clean out their web cache, wipe themselves off and go back to work. Honestly though, I don't know exactly what they're doing though, because we don't investigate these people. They're not important enough. Besides, we're not contracted to catch them. We are contracted to catch the other kind.

I have just spent the last two hours investigating a machine that, at first, just looked like he had saved around a gigabyte of porn videos. The severe violators are the ones we send to NCIS (Navy Criminology and Investigative Services) for criminal investigation. Most of the time they're just collecting standard, everyday, adult, legal, guy on girl porn. At first I thought that was what this was. There was even this picture of a nude painted up like a cow. We all took a peek and made a Gateway joke and followed it with a Chick-Fil-A joke: "Eat Mor Fish". Everything was fine, until we found the horse video. That's when we started looking a bit deeper.

The next thing we found were she-male videos. They're still legal in most states, but they still make me feel a bit sick to my stomach to see a freak of nature like that. Let's just say that it's not how God intended a woman to be. It bothers me slightly but it's not too bad.

Scrolling down through the files we came across the picture: kiddy porn. There wasn't actually any nudity in the first picture, but it was presented in a suggestive form. Still, he could have been able to get off with a picture like this. He wouldn't have served any time in jail for it, so we continued on.

Going to through his favorites we only found one link we have a problem with. There was a link to an incest site. Maybe it was all legal and maybe it wasn't. I wasn't sticking around on the site to find out. It doesn't matter anyway because what we found next it the primary reason I'm writing this. (Damn, I'm shaking again.)

On his desktop we discovered no less than five shortcuts to Yahoo Picture groups. A couple of them were general everyday porn, but two of them were not. Two of them were verifiably sick people. One had a picture of a suggestively posed teen that could have been old enough but was more than likely too young to be doing it. He only shares pictures through e-mail, and that's all he does. The other showed a young Asian child around kindergarten age as his pic. He was also an e-mail trader. The piece that disturbed me the most was his favorite quote, or as much of it as I could read: Come here little girl, let me pull down your panties so you can sit on my lap and.....

I'm not going to be right for the next few days. I pray he finds a cell in general population with a large inmate nicknamed "Bubba the ass-wrecker". I'll let someone else pray for him. I want him dead.

Cross-posted at BNN

The Yemeni Press - Getting my butt in gear

2005-03-02T14:27:00.000-05:00

Jane at Armies of Liberation has been my blogmother for about six months now. She's done some great articles in the past and has more recently trained her eyes on the censorship of the Yemen media. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you have obviously never been to her site. Every other post brings up more data on the things going on in Yemen. Well, she has been heard loud and clear by people other than ourselves.

The following is her entire post of the letter she recieved from Abdul Kareem Al Khaiwany, the journalist she's been trying to free from prison. Read the article, go back to Jane's site and read more about it. Go sign the petition. E-mail any big name bloggers you can get to. Maybe we can get her an instalanch, powerlanch or maybe even a let's do lunch.

Text:

**********BLOGOSPHERE EXCLUSIVE**************
************Dissident watch**************

(Dear Friends and Fellow Freedom Lovers,
I never thought I’d get to use the stars but we the blogosphere recieved the following letter from Mr. Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani smuggled out of the central prison in Sana’a, Yemen.

I have been advocating for his release since his imprisonment in September as I am convinced that he is a politcal prisoner. He is a newspaper editor, a pro-democracy advocate, and a Yemeni patriot. There are several articles on my sidebar that explain his case more fully.

Kindly read his letter, portions of which are deleted as he is already in jail for insulting the president. If upon hearing from him directly, you wish to stand in solidarity with this man, kindly sign this petition. Futhermore, please feel free to copy the letter to your site and link to the petition not to me.

The petition will close on March 20th. Please consider taking a stand in support of freedom and a free press. For a professional and objective view of his case, the sidebar at the petition site links both the World Association of Newspaper Editors February protest letter and the Amnesty International January Appeal page. The Amnesty page carries his photo. The poor guy thinks I’m a real journalist but lets see what the blogosphere can do here.)

Dear Ms. Jane Novack,
The American journalist and political analyst,

I hereby express my deepest gratitude and most sincere thanks from behind the bars of the central prison in Sana’a, the capital of Republic of Yemen, for your articles on the freedom of press issues including my imprisonment.

Your opinions have genuinely touched my and the reader’s conscience as you have expressed your commitment to support issues of rights and freedoms and emphasized the true understanding of the Middle East issue. Hence you know well that freedom, democracy, and equality are the key solutions to the region’s problems.

Ms. Jane,

Since fifteen years, we have experienced democracy and multi-party system as well as breathed the fresh air of freedom, all which are the achievements of Yemen Unification. Soon later, a regression occurred in this experience after the summer of 1994 civil war. These achievements were emptied from their core cause leaving a margin of press freedom through which we battled to defend democracy, freedom, human rights, equal citizenship, and independent judiciary system, all being conditions for a better future and means to combat corruption and absence of law.

############ force, power, and oppression####### neglecting concepts of separation of powers. The head of the judiciary system is the president of the republic############ Here I am, in a battle which can least be described as unfair. My crime is public humiliation of the president. ########## I was deprived even from my right to self-defense. ########### you can imagine how I was handled by prison and police officers.

Furthermore, solidarity with my issue was prohibited and people in solidarity were punished and even terrorized to visit me in prison or declare their solidarity. In addition, the journalists’ syndicate is falling under tremendous pressures. I believe in democracy, freedom, equality and rights and am willing to sacrifice for their sake simply because I do not wish my children to suffer dictatorship and I will strive to provide them with a better future.

Dear Madam,

Leaders in our region transform into Gods. They even become to believe in their fake holiness which we aim to shatter so that they know they are humans just like us. Democracy and freedom are not granted by a leader or a regime, it is a world-wide human achievement of all the free people on earth.

According to the official interpretation of what is considered criticism of the president - based on this fake holiness- my criticism of the president is a crime that can cost me my life , not necessarily through Justice, but probably in prison by a murder convict. This could be attempted again inside or outside prison at any time. Nevertheless, I am not occupied by this matter, but more occupied with deep-rooting the concept of freedom.

I am also concerned that all Yemeni journalist gain the legal commitment of not being prone to imprisonment because of their opinions. I am also concerned that no other journalist will be imprisoned after me and suffer all that I have suffered. This we can achieve through your support and the support of all democracy and freedom advocates in the world as individuals or organizations.

Dear Madam,

Democracy and freedom are the global language with which I address you, probably too intimately and in detail which might have inconvenienced you. But, my trust in your values and your openness encouraged me to convene this information on our reality and issues to you. I highly value your writings and your advocacy role to democracy and defending rights. ###########

I repeat my thanks to you Ms. Jane Novack, and apologize for consuming your precious time in reading this letter.

With my sincere regards,

Abdul Kareem Al Khaiwany
Central Prison- Sana’a
14/2/2005

(This letter was sent through ############)

(PLEASE CONSIDER SIGNING THE PETITION. It only says we support a free press. This guy deserves to hold his kids again. He has no advocate but us. If the free world does not throw its weight behind him, no one will.)

Yes, I know she doesn't want the credit for this, but she deserves it.

I'm echoing her words. Go sign the petition. Then go congratulate Jane on her diligence in this endeavor.

UPDATE: She's been Malkinlanched.

Images of hope 22

2005-03-02T04:19:00.000-05:00

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan

The long running conflict in Sudan between the Government and southern opposition groups has resulted in over 2 million deaths, and forced about 4 million people to leave their homes and seek refuge elsewhere in the country (Internally Displaced People, IDPs). Many other people have also been compelled to flee across the border into neighbouring countries (refugees). A chronic lack of basic services has made large numbers of Sudanese people dependent on emergency relief aid. Despite the positive development of the cease-fire signed in October 2002 and the on-going peace negotiations, the humanitarian situation in large parts of Sudan remains precarious in both quantitative and qualitative terms. This is primarily due to the protracted character of the conflict combined with the frequent or prolonged occurrence of natural disasters such as floods and drought. The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is rarely reported in the international press, making it a ‘forgotten crisis’.

In the Government-controlled regions of Sudan, the most precarious humanitarian conditions generally occur in areas where active conflict is still common and humanitarian access is problematic (due to government restrictions on travel permits, transport difficulties, landmines). Recurrent displacement in these areas means that affected populations gradually become dependent on external assistance.

The European Commission is currently concerned about the looming humanitarian crisis in Greater Darfur. Other concerns include general food insecurity, protracted drought conditions in Red Sea State, conflict escalation in Eastern States, IDPs in Kassala State, insecurity and lack of access on the Ugandan border, a high incidence of transmissible diseases in Southern Sudan and a yellow fever outbreak in Eastern Equatoria.

Taken from Europa-Echo.

Cookie Cutter Cartoons

2005-03-02T02:23:00.000-05:00

Watching the Oscars, okay not all of the Oscars, maybe a half an hour, I noticed that the movies out there fall in to two basic categories: really weird artsy stuff or cookie cutter style cinematography. Just pick a movie out there. I'm sure there's a movie out there that can help affirm this for you. If not, go look at Nickie Goomba's take on Million Dollar Baby. He calls it a cross between Old Yeller and Raging Bull.

Of course, me being the guy that I am doesn't really go to the movies. My life is relegated to the likes of Digimon, which is a Pokemon clone or DICE, which is a Gundam Warrior clone. If you can't tell, I have a seven year old son. We were all cartoon freaks at his age, and the cartoons were no better. There were no less than two Scooby Doo clones that I can think of: Speed Buggy and Captain Caveman. Captain Caveman even stole the mystery machine and repainted it!

The point I'm trying to make is that most cinematography is cookie cutter garbage that anyone can reproduce. I fail to understand the need for a whole host of awards shows to recognize the garbage being peddled today. Every year it seems like they keep trying to get bigger, better and more self important. It's high time we took this trade into our own hands and do it for ourselves.

Some of you out there in bloggerland may feel that I may be exaggerating the point a bit. I'm not doing that. If anything I'm under-inflating it. To really drive this home it appears I'm going to have to pull out the trusty old blogger way-back machine (ruthlessly stolen from Rocky and Bullwinkle) and show you an episode of a cartoon that could have been if bloggers were cartoonists. I'll leave it up to you to figure out who I'm cloning:

The first thing we need is an all star cast. So lets start the casting:

Ogre's Politics and Views - The Ogre [He's a big ogre with a club and an appetite for hoagies and anything that, well, doesn't fight back.]

American Warmonger - Ziggy [Ogre's long time buddy and pal. They love the joys of eating and just hanging out. The only problem is that doing this has had an effect on his waistline. Still, he doesn't really care as long as everything is still groovy]

News From the Great Beyond - Jessica [the redheaded bombshell that used to be a cheerleader but left the ditzy profession for a life of investigating mysteries. Maybe it was all of those Nancy Drew murder mysteries she used to read.]

SmarterCop - Brock [the former high school quarterback that blew his knee out in his senior year and seeing that he couldn’t get that football scholarship now he decides to follow in his father's footsteps and solve crimes. The only problem is the police won't let him in because of his bum knee so he has to to private work.]

Dr. Sanity - Louise [The really smart one of the group that has done nothing else in life but study. She doesn't have the nerd glasses, but she makes it up with her increased clumsiness. Even though she's got a great figure she's unsure about her body so she wears a big baggy sweater to hide her physique. Her claim to fame in all of this is her degree in criminal psychology]

And here is where we set the scene:

The sun is shining along what would be assumed to be the California coastline. The green machine screams down the highway as the pajama party crew searches the coastline for mystery, or fun in the sun, whichever comes first. Ogre has his head out of the roof with his trademark scarf and flying goggles. Life appears good. Off in the distance you see the big tops of a circus close to the beach. It is obviously their destination.

Cut to the green machine stopping in the dirt parking lot close to a big sign at the entrance saying "Happy Glenn's Circus".

(everyone steps out of the bus)

Brock: Well gang. It looks like we're here. Everyone ready for some fun?

Ziggy: I'll say, corn dogs, cotton candy, candy apples...

Ogre: can I eat the elephant?

Everyone: NO!

Ogre: Aaaw, I never get to eat the elephant.

[Enter Happy Glenn (not the evil Glenn we know today. This was before he went bad.) the proprietor of this establishment in full carnie regalia]

Glenn: Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to Happy Glenn's carnival of hobos. Yes, that's right, all of the carnies here are genuine Southern California hobos. You see, carnivals and hobos both travel around a bit and I figured "Hey, why not run a carnival with a bunch of hobos?" Of course, we had to blend everything out with some puppies. The cute little puff balls just make you want to gobble them up don't they?

Jessica: They sure do!

[cuddles with one roaming the grounds]

Jessica: Can we take one with us? Please?

Everyone: NO!

Happy Glenn: That's quite alright. We couldn't part with them anyway, we love them so much. Come right in folks and enjoy the show! If you'll excuse me I have some business to attend to at the public basketball court. It appears the Globetrotters have a problem with the rim height.

Louise: Did you say the Globetrotters are here?

Happy Glenn: Sure, didn't you see the billboard? It's right over the....

Happy Glenn: It was supposed to be over there. I'll have to talk to Barbara about that. She seems like a good hobo most of the time but she tends to be a little daft. I'll be needing to speak with her later.

Happy Glenn: Well, off to the court!

Louise: The carnival AND the Globetrotters in one day. Jinkies!

Everyone: GASP!

Louise: What did I say?

Brock: You know you're not supposed to say that "J" word anymore! Don't you remember that's a Hanna-Barbara copyright now?

Louise: Oops! Sorry, I forgot. These copyrights are just so ridiculous. What's next? Will the NCAA copyright March Madness?

[the gang enjoys their day at the circus. cut to five or six different scenes of Shaggy and Scoo...er..Ziggy and Ogre running around, eating food and getting into minor mischief. Fade to darkness and the whole gang in the front row at center court. Ogre is sitting on the floor so others can see.]

Glenn: Ladies and gentlemen! Before the big show I'd like to introduce the real stars of this show, the circus hobos!

[All of the hobos from the circus walk out onto the court. There's probably 100 in all. Then the lights go out with a crack!]

Some lady: What's going on! Help!

Louise: Ziggy keep your hands to yourself!

Ziggy: Hey! That wasn't me this time!

Janeane Garofalo: Sorry, that was me. I just love your hair.

Everyone: GASP!

[The lights come back on to a completely empty court. There is not a hobo to be found]

happy Glenn: Ladies and gentlemen, please don't panic. I'm sure they all just went to check on the lights together....I hope. Please, everyone remain seated while we get to the bottom of this.

[The pajama party crew approach with private detective credentials in hand.]

Louise: Have no fear! The pajama party crew is here! We know that someone kidnapped those hobos and we're going to get to the bottom of this. We owe it to you for showing us such a good time.

Happy Glenn: Thank you so much. I really don't know what you kids can do that the authorities can't do when they get here.

Brock: It will take the police hours to get here. By that time the hobo-nappers will be long gone. We're here now and can find out what's going on before the trail goes cold. Hey, what's that on the court over there?

Louise: Jink...sigh. It's a blue paw print!

Jessica: No, not that, that.

[She points to something shiny on the floor. Ziggy walks over and picks it up and walks back to the group.]

Ziggy: Hey! It's a bobby pin!

Brock: A bobby pin? What's a man doing with a bobby pin?

[Shakes head]

Brock: That doesn't matter now. We can figure out what it means later. We need to split up. Louise, you go with Ziggy and Ogre. Me and Jessica (wink) will be...umm...looking in the other direction. Yeah, that's it.

[Brock and Jessica head off towards the front of the circus and the parking lot, while the rest of the gang head the other way. Somewhere in the maze of tent's and closed up booths the "rest of the crew" sees a hobo ghost.]

Ziggy: Zoinks!...

Ziggy: Ha! That one's not copyrighted yet!...Ga!

[The standard chase by the hobo ghost ensues. Cut to scenes of legs spinning like wheels and arms outstretched running from the ghost. Queue the wacky chase music. Ziggy, being the heavy guy he is, has to stop.]

Ziggy: OGRE! Wait! Pant! Pant! Why are you running? Your like, four times his size! You could EAT him!

[Ogre stops mid-stride, turns around with a big smile on his face and cocks his head to one side.]

Ogre: Did you say....EAT?

[The reverse chase ensues the same as before, but this time it's Ogre that's chasing the ghost. Queue more dorky chase music. I think it has a trombone in it somewhere.]

[Ogre accidentally smashes through the wall in the only solid building in the circus. Somehow, the wall has landed on the hobo ghost who is dazed and barely conscious. Panning around the room they discover that the room is full of bound and gagged hobos.]

[Cut to Brock and Jessica strolling up to the building, laughing and giggling.]

Jessica: Hey! Way to go guys! You caught the bad guy!

[Cut to a bound and gagged hobo ghost, Brock and Ziggy untying the last of the 100 or so hobos, and the police arriving on the scene.]

Officer 1: Good job you kids! We'll take it from here.

Ziggy: Like, but who's the bad guy?

Louise: That, Ziggy, is obvious. None other than...

[She reaches over and victoriously and pulls off the ghost mask]

Louise: Happy Glenn Reynolds. You see, that blue paw print we found told me that the crook had to be someone that loved animals. Someone that just couldn't get enough of those cute and cuddly puppies.

Everyone: GASP!

Officer 2: But why would Happy Glenn want to capture all of his hobos?

Louise: Well, that's not all. You see...

[There is a thumping and mumbling sound from behind a full sized mirror on the opposite wall. Cut to a scene of the kids pulling off the mirror to reveal a bound and gagged Happy Glenn in his boxers and tee-shirt.]

Jessica: If that's Happy Glenn, then who is...

[All heads turn back to the fake Happy Glenn and Louise standing triumphantly over him. She pulls off the Happy Glenn mask to reveal...]

Everyone: Dan Rather?

Dan Rather: I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you pajama partying kids!

Louise: Hmm.. That’s not right.

[Louise again takes off the next mask to reveal..]

Everyone: Hobo Barbara?

Barbara: That's Senator Boxer to you. You rotten kids have foiled my plans to brainwash all of California. These hobos were just going to be a test group. We were going to try it out on San Francisco, but all of the bums there already vote Democrat. This was the best the DNC could do. We'll be back I tell you! We'll be back!

[The officers take her away to the paddy wagon with her kicking and screaming the entire way. Brock turns to the real Glenn.]

Brock: So how long have you been stuck in that wall?

Glenn: She stuffed me in there about a week ago. It was really nice of her to keep feeding me those smoothies though. They were really delicious!

[Glenn sees a dead puppy under the busted wall's rubble]

Glenn: NOOOO!

[Glenn runs up to the dead puppy and holds it close. He has tears welling up and then something in him snaps. He inhales deeply the sweet smell of the dead puppy.* A slight smile comes on his face as he puts the puppy back on the ground.]

Evil Glenn: Well, thank you kids for coming in and saving the day. I'm sure you really must be going. As you can see we have plenty of clean up to do here so I must be going.

[Eye's dead puppy one more time.]

Evil Glenn: Say, do any one of you know where I could get a good blender?

Crossposted at BNN: LINK

*This line has been changed to retain my "G" rating.

Sloooooow Blogging

2005-03-01T15:17:00.000-05:00

Please excuse the slow blogging. I've been tweaking templates and trying to get my KotB submission ready. I've still got the settings and storyboard left to write. I'll be burning the midnight oil on this one.

Blogger News Network

2005-03-01T03:57:00.000-05:00

About a week and a half ago I was approached by Robert Hayes from Let's Try Freedom. He has started a project that has been a long time coming and well overdue. You see, many of the bloggers on the internet, okay most of the bloggers in the internet have a talent for the written word. Many of these people are published writers but remain unknown. Many others are working on improving their writing ability so that they can become published. Still others have just got a natural gift for writing and it shows.

This is where The Blogger News Network comes in. BNN is a site devoted to the exceptional articles and news reports written strictly by bloggers like you and me. It is a place for all of those who fall into the above categories to showcase their talents. His standards are not that high either. Heck, they let me in.

They do have some serious talent there as well. Being a blogger I'm prone to dropping names and such so here goes:

First off, I'd like to note that Dean Reese at Blue Glow Worm, one of my competitors for KotB is also a contributor. I'm sure if Michael McLees at Thoughts of Mike applied he'd be accepted as well. After the death threat, I've been delving a bit into his site and have found some pretty quality stuff. That would make an entire BNN staffed tournament!

Okay, enough with the obligatory sucking up. On to the other bloggers I'm familiar with:

John Burgess from Crossroads Arabia
William N. Kilarjian and Aaron Margolis from Pardon My English
Jane Novak from Armies of Liberation (My Blogmother)
Doug Payton of Considerettes
Mark Radulich from Progressive Conservatism
Stacy L. Harp from Mind & Media (I blogged about her a couple days ago.)

Pant! Pant! Okay, that's enough. I'm about halfway down the list. There's more people I know on the list, but I'm sure you get the point by now. If you want to read some good articles written by some good people BNN is the place to do it. If you want to be one of the bloggers getting your articles read BNN is the place to do it. Before the site was instalanched yesterday they were already taking in around 200 hits a day from a site no older than a couple of weeks. Now that the site has been instalanched there's no telling how much readership will happen.

If you haven't already followed one of the above links to Blogger News Network Here's another one: LINK

Images of hope 21

2005-03-01T02:13:00.000-05:00

Ardamata Camp - Sorghum Distribution: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Ardamata camp outside of Geneina in West Darfur receive sorghum provided by USAID through WFP.

Taken from GlobalSecurity.org

The King Returns!

2005-02-28T18:30:00.000-05:00

('Cause "Return of the King" has been used and abused.)

Well, I have thanked you my minions of the blog. However, our battle has not yet been won. This week there are two more pretenders vying for my hard fought crown of glory. So all I ask of you is to vote and provide a trackback. One or two lines are enough. I'll even do the trackback for you if you fear the dreaded PING. Just let me know you wrote something and I'll throw the trackback in.

And if you really want to go that extra mile you can help schmooze the judges:

News from the Great Beyond
Ogre's Politics and Views
SmarterCop

Then of course there's always slander. One of the pretenders has already threatened to kill me with the melted down remnants of my own crown. Maybe someone should tell him that a pixel crown can't get melted down.

So go forth, get out the vote! Rock the trackback and watch the sparks fly...or pixels as the case may be.

VOTE KING WARMONGER!

Workfare - Fixing Welfare

2005-02-28T08:09:00.000-05:00

Something that’s been in the back of my mind for a long time is welfare. I hate it. In its current state it is completely disrespectful to not only those who pay taxes and reap no benefits, but those that are forced into the program with no opportunity to escape. Many don’t want to escape. They are content to live off of you and me for as long as we keep giving them a handout instead of a hand-up. Many other people would like to kick those people in the backside for taking their hard earned tax dollars while giving nothing in return.

What I would like to propose is something that falls under the category of workfare. No, this is not the same workfare that makes you do 30 hours of community work a month in order to collect a check. All that does is make you feel like an indentured servant to the government, a government slave if you will. That’s not what I’d like to propose.

What I’d like to propose is a transitional form of welfare. One that gives you the career building opportunities that you need while still providing financial assistance for you to live on. It’s a hand up, a chance to graduate from poverty, a chance to succeed.

The reason people don't work under welfare is that they lose their benefits at the slightest employment. If you work at McDonalds you lose your benefits. That's not right. We need to fix that so people can work and continue to be productive members of society. Now here's the dig, instead of still receiving your full welfare check and what you collect from an underemployed job you collect the difference between your welfare check and your transitional job. In addition to that, you receive an additional half of what you are receiving at work as a workfare supplemental. The 50% number can be played with, depending on what level of incentive or savings the government wishes to extract, but this is the cornerstone of the concept.

For example, lets take Bob. Bob collects a welfare check every month for 1,000$. He sits on his rump, collects a check and eats Doritos all day. If he were to get a job at McDonalds for 500$ a month he would lose his 1,000$ welfare check and only collect 500$. Under workfare he could collect 500$ from McDonalds, 500$ from welfare and 250$ from his workfare supplemental. That's 250$ that he wasn't collecting while sitting on his couch, suckling the government piggy bank. That's also 250$ the government has just saved on the welfare system. It now costs the government only 750$ to provide Bob with 1,250$ worth of workfare.

So what happens to the additional 250$ that the government has just saved? Well, there is a plethora of under funded, hand-up, educational and service based programs within the welfare system that could definitely use that money. It could pay for classes, improved services, better accounting and maybe even free or reduced price psychological services for those within the system. It creates a win-win situation all around. I can see no losers in this endeavor.

Let me modify that last statement. There will be no legal losers in this endeavor. The only losers that I can foresee will be the illegal aliens that assume the jobs that regular Americans will not take because they can do better with welfare, sitting on their duff, eating Doritos. If the opportunities for migrant workers dry up in the United States word will get out and the influx of the undocumented will subside. I guess that makes this a win-win-win situation.

Now, I have thought about the fact that some people may believe this program discriminates against those less capable. That is simply not true. The less capable would be the individuals most likely to benefit from this program. They are usually the ones that would take these lower employment jobs but don't due to their long-term welfare status. It would also be giving them better services to make the less qualified more capable of rising from their underemployed status.

So what about those already trying to better themselves through the free or reduced college services available today? Aren't they going to get shafted by this? Well, normally yes. They wouldn't be working and collecting an extra check so they wouldn't be able to benefit. However, an option that has been used with other workfare plans is to include a partial payment system for those continuing their education. I would suggest a plan that worked by examining how much time you are dedicating to college. Say, for example, a full time student would receive 10% extra from welfare while a half time student would only receive an additional 5% supplemental. From the 25% government savings to the system pay equality would be a natural consequence. How many wins are we up to now?

Another benefit of employment is a sense of accomplishment. Even if your job is adding the big white mints to the toilets at Billy's Beanatorium you are still doing something that makes an effect upon society in a beneficial way. It gives people an improved self esteem. It gives them the drive to do better, to make something of themselves, to make something of America.

Cross-Posted at: The Blogger News Network under Education & Social Policy

NOTE: BNN has just been instalanched.

Images of hope 20

2005-02-28T02:34:00.000-05:00

Air Force Capt. Brian Gilpatrick and 1st Lt. Nils Hallberg, 351st Air Refueling Squadron, 100th Air Refueling Wing, Royal Air Force Station Mildenhall, England, prepare for takeoff in a KC-135R Stratotanker. About 30 U.S. Air Forces in Europe members left for Kigali, Rwanda Oct. 21 to begin preparations for the arrival of two U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft and about 120 airmen to support the deployment of African Union forces to the Darfur region of Sudan. Photo by Airman 1st Class Franklin J. Perkins, USAF

If you were wondering how any aid is getting to Darfur then wonder no longer. The U.S. is on the job again.

Correction on the glow worm

2005-02-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

Ogre has been polite enough to tell me that it wasn't his fault last week. Something about a wardrobe malfunction:

It doesn't matter. We shall do battle on the field of Blog! Ready your keyboard!

Tweaking the template

2005-02-27T17:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I've recieved some constructive criticism by the judges and am making the approptiate tweaks.

Lets see...Music has been silenced, but opens upon request, cut out a few language translations and put the other ones in their native tongue (I still want to put micro flags next to them), Moved the Llama to a better stable, added the king button and appropriate commentary. Looks like the only two things left to do are add more "about me" stuff and figure out a way to put better post separators in. I guess I'll be hunting through templates tonight for the answer.

I'd like to thank all three judges (News From the Great Beyond, SmarterCop and Ogre's Politics and Views) for their fair and balanced critiques of my submissions and template.

I would also like to thank Pat Santy, from Dr. Sanity for the hard fought match. I'll be voting for you when you compete in two weeks time, as long as it's not against me. You are truly blogging royalty.

I would also like to thank everyone who voted for me or did a trackback. I can remember Patty-Jo, Daisy Cutter, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Pirate's Cove and Flight Pundit. Without your individual help I would not be in the place I am today...even though I was still beaten on trackbacks.

Again, thank you to everyone involved in this great production..oops! almost forgot: Nick Queen, without his foresight none of this would be in effect.

Now on to those that wish to dethrone me. (Jeez! You'd think they'd knock on the bathroom door first!):

Blue Glow Worm - You dropped out last week, but you cannot escape me that easily. This week we do battle!

Thoughts of Mike - I already know what you're thinking. You're thinking: "Dear God, what have I gotten myself into."

Will I be able to hold onto the coveted title for another week? Will I be able to hold on long enough to be retired? Only time, and the appropriate votes, trackbacks and proper schmoozing of the judges can tell.

(..and if you find somthing that needs improving let me know and I'll see what I can do.)

Images of hope 19

2005-02-27T03:00:00.000-05:00

Darfur, western Sudan, is witnessing the latest episode in Sudan's long history of internal conflict.

Fighting has left thousands dead, and according to UN figures, up to 1,450,000 people have been driven from their villages to camps outside large towns in the region. Another 200,000 have crossed the border into Chad.

So why is this an image of hope? It is people like you and me that can make it one. Go here and send whatever you can.

You can change it into pictures like this:

Kerinding II Clinic

Islamic Relief has opened a primary care health clinic in Keriding II to serve over 4000 people. The clinic will provide vital healthcare to displaced families.

The clinic has received a donation of medicines from Al-Geneina Hospital and malaria treatment drugs from the WHO.

It's not much, but it's a start. I'll be doing sudan images all week. The images will probably not be as hopeful as usual. Remember that you can make that change, give to the above linked charity or many others like it. I'll be highlighting more as the days go by.

(The UN could do something as well, but we really don't have a say as to where they set up their next blood-for-oil program.)

King of Blogs directory

2005-02-26T23:56:00.000-05:00

Those coming here from the King of Blogs tournament, let me direct you to the following three posts:

American Warmonger: A Guided Tour

Submission: Reflections of my military past - redux

Challenge: WAR!

Election reform announced in Egypt

2005-02-26T19:22:00.000-05:00

First Afghanistan, then Palestine, then Iraq, then Saudi Arabia, and now this:

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections in September, making a surprise reversal Saturday that could mean he will face a challenger for the first time since taking power in 1981.

Has anyone ever heard of the dominoe effect?

Anyone ever played dominoes before? Well, I have so here goes:

DOMINO MOTHERF**ER!!!

Wichita police chief: 'BTK is arrested'

2005-02-26T19:06:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks like after 30 years they finally have their man...maybe. This wouldn't have been the first time a serial killer (not cereal) has eluded police. However, the police chief sounded pretty convinced it was none other than some guy named Dennis Rader. I haven't really been follwoing the case that well, so that's all I got.

Just a thought: Wouldn't it be fitting sickness for the BTK guy to turn into a teacher for that 15 year old that just got sentenced to 30 years? Hopefully, the Rader will get the death that Terri Schiavo will not be afforded. Maybe Rader will get life...which Terri might not be afforded either.(Yes, I know I'm stretching for this one. Hopefully, I'm not stretching too far.)

The Editor is getting Hitched!

2005-02-26T17:18:00.000-05:00

(And I'm not just talking about theat episode with the pick-up truck.)

He had the ring stuffed away on the 17th hole. I think that's the first time anyone's ever done something like that. I'd have given him a 10, but he'll have to settle for a 9.1 because he didn't invite anyone, or set the date yet. Go by and give him your congratulations!

The importance of reading

2005-02-25T20:23:00.000-05:00

Most of us in the blogosphere have the inate ability to read. Most of us cn even read in English. Unfortunately, most of us are restricted by the almighty dollar from reading everything we want. Twenty bucks for a book is awfully pricey when you don't know if it's any good or not.

Today I was propositioned by Mind & Media to read and review books in my blog. Unfortunately, I am preoccupied with college at the moment and won't be able to startup until around June. Hopefully I can find the time to read something besides ugly tech manuals by then.

That being said, Stacy, the proprieter of Mind & Media has given me permission to plug her site and extend her offer further. Remember, since it is her site and her decision, she reserves the right to refuse anyone she feels. Mostly though, she's worried about the mongerlaunch (see instalaunch) that may occur at her site once I've posted this. Yeah right, my minions. That's funny.

Honestly though, she didn't tell me that in the e-mail, but I'm making sure to protect her rights. I'm not sure exactly how selective she is, but I'd like to think she can chose who she wants.

Anyway, here's the text of the e-mail she sent me:

Dear Jeremy,

I was reading your blog American Warmonger and decided that I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to a new blog I've created called Mind & Media - http://mindnmedia.blogspot.com

The reason I started this blog is because I just started a publicity company with the purpose of promoting authors, films and other media through the use of bloggers.

And since we are all bloggers I wanted to invite you to join me. I am currently in the process of selecting bloggers to review books and other things in the future, like film. I've already promoted Reagan; In the Face of Evil dvd, and now I'm starting with selected authors.

I need you to review these books and let your readers know about them.

This is how it works, I will send you a free book, and just ask in return that you link it on your blog with a review. You can blog as you read the book, or read the book first and then blog about it. But I would want the book graphic and the link I will provide on your blog the whole time you have the book - at least for a month.

If you are interested in joining me, please respond to this email by clicking the reply button and I will add you to my list. Then when I have a new book going out, I'll contact you.

You can also visit the website for the latest interviews and promotions I have going on.

Thanks!

Stacy L. Harp
Mind & Media

and also the blogger of E-Involved and MediaSoul
http://www.einvolved.org
http://mediasoul.typepad.com

She gave me her phone number too, but I'm not going to let that out. Yes, I know you can go to the library to check out free books, but you don't actually get the opportunity to write a review, or keep the book for an entire month. I checked the size of the ads she's requesting as well. Here is a sample:

I stole her bandwidth to present this to you. I felt it only fair to make the declaration under fear of being Austined.

Now you have all of the facts as I have them. It gives you an opportunity to read free books and provide an online repository of reviews from real people like you and me. If this sounds like an interesting proposition to you plese don't hesitate to e-mail her. What could it hurt?

Blogs for Bush: Learning From Terri Schiavo

2005-02-25T18:14:00.000-05:00

Matt over at Blogs for Bush has the right idea about the lessons we can learn from the Terri Schiavo case no matter what happens to her.

Everyone who has taken the time to talk about or blog about this case should take the time to create a living will to make their wishes known to their family.

This is something I haven't doen myself but should. Hell, I'll do it right now. This is in print and should hold up in court. If any lawyers would like to let me know the truth I'm all ears:

I Jeremy H. Bol, being of sound mind and healthy body, am submitting to the world, this day, 25 FEB 2005, this document as my living will.

In the event of my incapacitation and inability to decide my fate for myself immediate decisions requiring urgent consideration should be relagated to my wife, Young-Mi Bol. In the event that she is not available for emergencies I authorize doctor's descretion for operations and other items requiring approval.

1) If I am under a long term incapacitation requiring more than a feeding tube I request that I be kept alive for six(6) months. At the end of these six months I hereby relagate the decision to a majority vote between Young-Mi Bol, Patty-Jo Bol, John Harley Bol and my grandmother, Beverly Hammer. If in the event that a deadlock agreement is made, I leave the deciding vote to my son, Brandon C. Bol to break the tie. If one or more of the above parties are dead or otherwise similarly incapacitated, the remaining parties will have authority to vote.

If the vote is deemed to keep me alive, then another vote will be made in three(3) months time. This three month interval will continue until I regain conciousness, a vote to end my mechanically permitted life, or three years time has been reached. At the end of three years time change the voting interval to annual.

If a death vote is reached I wish to be provided medically assisted suicide medication in lieu of the natural solution.

2) If I am incapacitated and surviving on the means of a feeding tube I request that all available brain scan tests be ran to determine my mental capacity. If it is deemed by a doctor that I am effectively brain dead then I wish for a medically assisted suicide.

If any the afforementioned persons requests additional tests be ran I request that they be honored, no matter how long this may keep me alive in a seemingly vegatative state.

A vote for continued existance can be requested by any party, at any time after six months of incapacitation by any of the above parties.

If any situation arises that is not covered above a vote will be made in the same style as has been previously noted.

This concludes my living will.

If there are any situations in which someone would suggest I add please feel free to make a comment.

MSNBC - Life-support case extended 3 weeks

2005-02-25T16:53:00.000-05:00

MSNBC - Life-support case extended 3 weeks

Yep, that's right. Terri now has until the 18th of March. This is utterly rediculous folks. I just don't understand why the court won't allow any of the requested tests. Of course, state agancies are starting to look into this case now:

State officials also are trying to intervene in the case. Attorneys for the Schindlers said the state wants a 60-day stay to investigate allegations that she is being mistreated by being denied appropriate medical care and rehabilitation.

Originally, I heard they wanted 15 days to investigate. 60 days would put her into around the end of April.

Dear Alan Colmes (of Hannity and Colmes)

2005-02-25T13:59:00.000-05:00

I've been a long time fan of the show and have noticed something going awry with the program. About a year ago, before the elections were in full swing, I used to watch intently for your intellectual commentary that could put Sean in his place.

Unfortunately, sometime during the election season your attitude changed. You stopped being intelligent with your commentary and became mean and snippy. You've gone from being a full partner on the program to being one that just waits until the end of everything and throws an irrelevant, or irreverent comment out as a means of saying that everything we had just heard is a lie. Much of the time you even ignore important facts about the case at hand.

Lets take, for example, yesterday's conversation with Mr. Dobson on the Terri Schiavo case. I agree with you on the point that people should have a right to die. I do not agree that the word of one man, especially her husband, should have any weight on this type of statute. You see, when the death of a family member is involved relatives do not think clearly, and are frequently found lying about things in order to get their way. I'm sure you could argue the same for her parents, but there is some very compelling evidence in their favor.

Have you actually sat down and watched the videos Mr. Colmes? Have you actually made a conscious effort to sit down and see for yourself what Terri is capable of doing? The video evidence is undeniable by any sane human being that understands any similar debilitating illness. Terri has nearly the same motor functions of Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest minds of our time. Hawking just has the benefit of some additional computer equipment and physical therapy. Would you condemn him to the same fate that we consider cruelty to animals?

(If you have not seen the full array of short videos please go here:
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ccb/videos/Terri_Mum.rm
or
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ccb/videos/Terri_Swab.rm
or
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ccb/videos/Terri_music.rm
or
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ccb/videos/balloon.rm
or
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ccb/videos/Terri_Big_Eyes.rm
or
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/ccb/videos/hows_that_cold.rm

If you need reference footage of those with similar physical disabilities you can go here to see some palsy kids:
http://www.cpschoolnj.com/cp1b256k.wvx
or
http://www.cpschoolnj.com/cp1e256k.wvx

If the words of the doctor still bother you please remember that it was Michael Schiavo that has bought and paid for everything, including the doctor. There have been no independent entities to actually see Terri. Michael, the legal guardian, has forbid it. Now, can you tell me one good reason Michael would refuse a second opinion?

Anyway, I've prattled on about one particular case long enough. That wasn't the full intent of this letter. I was particularly interested in asking you on a personal level to stop being the obstructionist you appear to have become. It does nothing but put you on the quality level of Tucker Carlson. I do hope that this article does not appear to be mean-spirited or an attack against you personally. I just miss the old Alan Colmes that could make a statement without making a sneer.

Thank you for your time,

Jeremy H. Bol
Chesapeake, VA
http://americanwarmonger.blogspot.com
(Yes, I'm one of those dastardly bloggers.)

P.S. I'm sending this letter to Sean as well. If you delete this, maybe Sean will pick it up and be able to do something functional with it.

Images of hope 18

2005-02-25T00:51:00.000-05:00

by Sgt. Sean Kimmons

February 24, 2005

Sgt. Jamal Kennedy, from Company B, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, patrols an area near an Iraqi police station in Kirkuk with his 50-caliber machine gun. This photo appeared on www.army.mil

KotB Press appearance

2005-02-24T22:35:00.000-05:00

Fade into a crowded room with an empty podium and dozens...well, a dozen...okay four reporters, two camara men and a Kangaroo named Ganon in the audience. (Man! That guy shows up everywhere doesn't he?)

(Mr. Warmonger walks into the room from aside door, wlaks up to the podium, drops some notes on one of those yellow legal pads on the podium, and squares himself off, surveying his small but eager audience.)

Monger: Ahem.

(clears throat and takes a small sip of water)

Monger: In case anyone has been wondering why I've called this impromptu press conference together you need only review my opponent's latest scurrilous statements against my person.

(shuffles feet a bit and looks down at notes)

Monger: I would like to state for the record that all of these accusations are simply...

(leans forward into the camara for effect)

Monger: untrue.

(brief pause)

Monger: I was not the second gunman on the grassy knoll, nor was I the first. In fact, I was completely incapable of doing so as my DNA was still residing in Washington state at the time. Furthermore, I wasn't able to grasp anything, including my mother's finger until 1974, in a small town community known as Bellingham. My record has already shown that where I was at the time of the incident. There are no other documents that I can turn over to public scrutiny and I come to today to clear the record once and for all.

(looks down at notes again, takes another sip of water and squares off on the poduim again)

Monger: Now, as for the Anthrax scare of 2001, I was never at that concert. I was busy with some urgent paperwork and gave my tickets to a close and personal friend of mine, Nickie Goomba. Nickie said he had a wonderful time up until the Liberal stampede. I still feel a bit guilty for the damage sustained by his blog, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

(looks down at notes again, turns paper over, scribbles something, nods to Ganon and takes a deep breath)

Monger: Now that all of this is cleared up I'd like to know something from my opponent. Since I have been more than forthright with my record and have been fully investigated, why does my opponent still refuse to sign her DD form 180? All it would require is a stroke of the pen and the real truth will be revealed.

(looks intently into the camera)

Monger: What are you hiding Dr. Sanity? Are there skeletons in your closet that you don't want to share with the public? Will it show that you were never really in Cambodia on Christmas eve? Will it show that it was actually you on the grassy knoll in 1963? What are you afraid of Doctor? Yes, the truth remains to be shown, but not by me.

(relaxes a bit and eases back from the podium slightly)

Monger: Okay, does anyone of the press have any questions?

(there is a scramble of voices until Ganon smacks down the other four journalists)

Ganon: Is it true that you're nothing more than a facist Bush monkey that takes his marching order from Karl Ro...

(ten security agents jump out of the shadows and drag him kicking and and screaming out of the press room)

Ganon: How many more trees have to die before you people..SLAM!

(there's a moment of silence)

Monger: Okay, questions from any real reporters.

Monger: Angela, go ahead.

Angela: Is it true that Nickie Goomba scalped the tickets and made the whole blog story up because he screwed up his HTML on his own? Isn't that just a fabrication?

Monger: I have it on very good authority that the BLA is just about to capture the culprits that destroyed his original blog, and as for the scalping, well, Nickie told me personally that he was there and I believe him.

Monger: next question. Daisy, go ahead.

Daisy: Have you heard the one about the ping pong bal.. er... tennis testi..

Monger: Yes, and I'm sorry but we don't have time to retell it in this forum. Thank you anyway.

Monger: Anyone else? William, what's your question?

William: Is it true that you're into sex with a gay penguin named Steve?

Monger: I did not have sexual relations with that penguin. Not once.

(Monger looks at his watch)

Monger: Well, that appears to be all the time we have. Thank you all for coming and I woudl appreciate your votes in the KotB elections. Thank you and good night.

(Hat tip: Daisy Cutter for the press conference format.)

Independent Music

2005-02-23T22:56:00.000-05:00

Something I[ve been wanting to do for a while now is have some music on my site, particularly unknown and independent music. If you have speakers on your computer you've probably heard a few indie tunes. I hope to continue changing artists every day or three. I wish there was a little flash player I could drop in that would cycle through a playlist of artists from an independent artist site.

Alas, there is no flash player to be found. I am relagated to hard coding this stuff on a daily basis. It doesn't take too long, maybe a half hour or two. Maybe if I could connect one of these sites to a flash coder we could all get hooked up with some snazzy sidebar player. Until that time, you only get one song every day or so.

If this isnt' enough for you and you just gotta have more of this indie music stuff there are a few places you can go.

The one I'm going to highlight is one that will actually give you something in return for your time and effort. Garageband is a website that's been around for a while and will give you credit for free music in return for you rating independent bands. You don't get much, but you get something. You also get to hear some of the worlds best undiscovered artists competing against each other for contracts, or just trying to sell their indie records. I've had an account with them since around 2001.

I'm sure there are other similar projects that will pay you for listening to new artists, but I don't happen to remember any others. If you want to just listen to music samples from various unsigned artists here is a list of sites I've been haunting lately:

CD Street
CD Baby
Sonic Awareness
MPeria
Iuma
CIMSMusic

The Electras

2005-02-23T17:55:00.000-05:00

Something recently rediscovered is this band called The Electras.

So what's so special about this band from the 60's?

Take a look at the bass player. He's the tall guy standing next to the drummer. Doesn't he look familiar? He should look familiar. He just ran for president. Yes, that's right folks. RCA has digitally remastered the one and only album that John Kerry played bass on: The Electras

I believe this album may be exclusively for sale at CD Street. I could be mistaken though. I haven't really tried to hunt it down.

C'mon! You know you want to hear a few samples of John and his band. Here's the play list and the available samples:

1. Guitar Boogie Shuffle
2. Three Blind Mice
3. You Can't Sit Down
4. Greenfields
5. Shanghaied
6. Summertime Blues
7. Bulldog
8. Ya Ya
9. Sleepwalk
10. Electra
11. Because They're Young
12. Torquay
13. Yellow Jacket

Maybe if he'd have been playing bass instead of windsurfing he'd have been able to swing a few votes while swinging with Clinton's sax. The album is currently going for 9.50$.

Schiavo - in a holding pattern

2005-02-23T14:34:00.000-05:00

Well, from what I can gather between the MSM and the pajamasphere there will be an appeals court hearing for Terri tonight and around five P.M.

I'm not sure if she's still got her feeding tube in or what the hearing will entail. Everything is up in the air right now. I even heard a rumor that when asked by a lawyer to stand up or die she stood up. I think the only people that are more confused about this case are Floridian judges.

So what can we do, other than wait?

E-mails and letters still work. You can e-mail Jeb Bush, the court house, et. al. from the list found HERE.

There is a fund drive to put up an add down in Florida to influence the case. You can go HERE to find out how to donate. (Over 10,000 recieved already!)

There's an Ipetition for the president to grant a stay of execution going around as well. That can be found HERE. (Hat tip: Sunnye Teidemann)

What you can do most of all though is pray. Pray that eveything will work out for the better and the light of truth will shine through.

One last note: If you've been living in a cave, or wear a black robe down in Florida, there's a mess of videos running around. Here's another one that Hyscience was given: LINK

WAR!

2005-02-23T03:03:00.000-05:00

Ladies and gentleman, today I come to you with a heavy heart. Today we are at war. This is not the typical war in which we send soldiers to foreign lands. This is a war being fought right here on the blogfront. Today the underground war between the blogosphere and the main stream media (hitherto known as the MSM) has reached its boiling point. Yes, we are now at war with those we have struggled against for so long.

We are not without our heroes. In fact each and every one of you that blogs against a mistruth doled out be the MSM is a superhero. Our quest for truth in journalism has lead us to hone our research skills and WPM speeds. Yes, we are now pushing the envelope in the theory of blogativity. We are no longer just men and women. We are supermen and women.

Why Jeremy! Whatever are you talking about?

I'm saying we have honed are skills to the point that we are better than the average typist. Things have changed in our fingertips, good things. Haven't you felt them start to tingle after many long hours? No, that's not carpel tunnel. We have evolved. Here, let me give you several examples so you may recognize them amongst regular men and women.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to just some of the members of BLA, or Blogger's League and Alliance.

Ogre from Ogre's Politics and Views is also:

The Llamanator! Okay, yes I know that's Joe Camel. But isn't Ogre just another smooth character? Superpowers: He doesn't need superpowers! He's the Llamanator! People quake in their boots in the fear that he just may spit! (or bleat)

and his trusty Llama steed, Rusty.

Songstress7 from News from the great beyond is:

The Beyonder - I had a rather difficult time discovering her secret identity. It was shrouded in mystery and I was unable to place what superhero she really was. What finally have her away was her uncanny ability to pull previously unseen things out of the blogsmos. Even then I wasn't sure. There are several superheroes with this ability. Was she Spectre? No, that's a guy. Maybe Parallax? Definitely not. Parallax was a reincarnation of the original Green Lantern, who was a guy, named Hal Jordan, who is now the Spectre...(Isn't comic book history fun?) The only one I wasn't sure of was the Beyonder. Due to the ethereality and ability to change matter of the Beyonder you could never tell. Well, now we know. The Beyonder is really Songstress7.

Smarter Cop is obviously:

Robocop? Supercop? No, Smarter Cop. He doesn't have a secret identity. There is only SmarterCop. He doesn't need a secret identity. He's smart enough to avoid the trouble associated with keeping a secret life.

So now that we know SmarterCop is SmarterCop what are his superpowers?

Well, look at that head. Could his special skill be anything other than full and compete understanding as to the theory of blogativity? I could go further into the talents derived from great intelligence, but that would go into the golden age of ~~comics~~ the King of blogs tournament; Back before the Llamanator was part of the council. Suffice to say that what is derived from SmarterCop is something the enemy is loathe to attempt: logic.

Instapundit morphs into:

Hawkman. Why Hawkman? Well, it's not because of his great hawk like abilities. I'll tell you that right now. It is 100% due to his indigestive, regurgitation powers. That's right. Glenn Reynolds has honed his blogging abilities to be reaching critical blog (part of the blogativity theory again). You see, he has taken the digestion issue out of the equation and is therefore capable of blogging much faster than other bloggers. Unfortunately, the substance of these things is much degraded, almost to the point of being non-valuable.

Julie from Passing Thoughts... and JulieB from Julie with a B are:

The wonder twins - Okay, yes. I know that the original wonder twins were a BOY and a girl. It's still quite alright though. JulieB has been tested and writes like a boy, so everything is still cool. So what are these girls' talents? Other than confusing the heck out of me when they leave comments they have the uncanny knack of slipping in a good jab without actually offending anyone. I'm not really sure how they do it. However it's done, it's an extremely valuable talent for a superhero.

Norrin Radd is:

Silver Surfer...DUH! This pretender has found his inner superhero. It has consumed him. Well, that and wrestling. I wouldn't be surprised to find him in some home movie jumping off a turnbuckle, but I digress. Silver Surfer has the distinct power of not giving a rats arse what other people think. You don't think that's a superpower? Just write something unpopular and see how you handle the severely negative feedback. It makes you think twice about what you write.

Daily Kos Is:

The Incredible Hulk - Who else can personify that liberal rage that lives within the Kos? When Kos is peaceful and in a happy place, he's...What the hell am I talking about? No one on Daily Kos are ever in their happy place. It's like they've turned the dial to full on rage and then ripped the dial out of the wall. Straight up, they're mean, green and full of rage. You don't think rage is a weapon either? Go check out his hit counter and tell me rage isn't powerful.
GRRRRRRR!! KOS SMASH!!!

Indepundit, aka LT. Smash is without a doubt:

LT. Rock - No, not SGT. Smash. In order to demote him down to SGT. one would need an act of congress to enact his courts martial. Nope, we need to promote the good SGT. to LT. Every good league or alliance needs their tough as nails, seen it all, done even more middle leadership element. Smash..er..Rock was blogging Iraq back when there was only a whacky Iraqi named Salam Pax blogging the war. Yes sir. He's been to the soup and back. There is no better person to lead bloggers into battle than Sarge...er..Lieutenant Rock.

Unless, of course, you have more than one army to lead. In such an event you need Jane and her Armies of Liberation on your side. So ho is her superhero persona? Jane is:

Wonder Woman (in Amazonian battle armor) - Unlike Rock, Jane is more the blogger of persuasion. She understands the need to appeal to another generals preferences while still maintaining the prime directive. This is definitely one Amazonian you want to take onto the battlefield.

Every legion of superheroes needs a place to hang out and wait for the next villain to strike. Scooby Doo had the Mystery Machine. The Teen Titans had Titan Tower. Well, the Bloggers League Alliance has Blogger headquarters: The Evangelical Outpost; Also known as BLAH, or Bloggers League Alliance Headquarters.

Okay, true. It's a little bit old school. It's not as cool as the Justice League Unlimited's global satellite, but if it was good enough for Superman it should be good enough for us.

I've been speaking of an enemy. Yes folks, we have a great enemy in the world. This enemy has been among us for many years but has never before gone on the offensive like they have in recent times. We have listened eagerly to what they say. Learning about the goings on in the world from what they have fed us through our feeding tubes, also known as boob tubes. Yes folks. I'm speaking of the evil Dan Rather and the rest of the main stream media. It's time to take the red pill.

They have established themselves well on their lofty perch and are not afraid to sacrifice some of their own in order to save the mastermind behind everything. This dastardly villain is none other than Dan Rather:

(Rather talking to his minions)
Yes, this is his villain persona. Does anyone need an explanation? Isn't he villainous enough as is? He fights against everything good in the RNC. He fights against truth, Bush and us snarky, uneducated bloggers in our pajamas. He is the bane of many a good typist.

We have received some forward intel. on a few of his senior generals. They may not be a dangerous as Rather himself but give each of them a wide birth. They are to be considered armed, with a microphone, and dangerous:

Keith Olberman is:

Cranial, rectal Inversion man
This is an absolutely obvious one. How else can he get the information he does. His head is already at the source of where he's pulling his data. It seems only natural that this would be his evil villain persona.

Larry King is definitely:

Gollum - Just look at the arched back, the cruddy comb-over. Larry king is Gollum, pure and simple. Larry has some other Smigel like abilities as well. He appears to be a harmless and weak frog, but don't let him suck you in. The moment you let your guard down he'll jump on you back and try to bite off your finger..er..no. He will try and steal the one ring of power to direct the minds of those who watch him. Be forewarned, if he ever utters the words "my precious" it's time to run, or change the channel.

Rush Limbaugh is:

The Kingpin - The Kingpin has had many dealings with drugs, so has Rush. The kingpin is a pompous, arrogant arse, so is Rush. Heck, they even look similar. Rush's main power lies with the many he's sucked in already. He has formed his army of dittoheads and is ready and willing to run a few back-alley gang beatings against all who oppose him. Don't be caught on his bad side.

O'reilly is:

The Pith Lord - Okay, I am Photoshop disabled. Just Imagine O'Reilly's mug under the hood.

He means to take over the empire of the airwaves through pith and bloviation. His weapons are the constant declaration of absurdity and an over inflated ego. As of this moment he is the ruler of the empire. He is plotting to take over the young jedi of Canada for his ectelorians...er...ratings. If found trying to piece together real facts from this man quickly pick up your closest dictionary and you will discover the obvious truth: this man makes no sense.

Al Franken is:

The Joker - We really don't know that much about Al, except that his career before joining the MSM was as the Joker. Since that time he has gone into hiding on some form of old, deep-rooted wavelength medium known as "the radio". We at BLAH have been searching far and wide for information about this criminal, but he has gone so deep into hiding that even the internet is unable to turn up any good data on him.

Any well formed evil alliance will have a base of operations. We have worked very hard and lost many agents to bring you the following information. Take heed and use it well. We have found their base of operations orbiting our planet. They will take to the stars with the assistance of Virgin airlines owner, Sir Richard Branson. The following image is only an artist's rendition from stolen blueprints and scale models. Deep in the heart of CBS studios we have found plans and most of the major components for:

The Death Star - Fortunately for the BLA we have been keeping up with our Star Wars movies. We are relatively sure that a direct hit to their reactor core will destroy their base of operations if they can complete it.

Now all we need are more superheroes willing to risk their ~~lives~~ free time in order to put an end to the MSM once and for all. We are fighting for truth for everyone, not just those with deep pockets. We are fighting for unbiased journalism by being as biased as we can possibly be. Most of all though. We're fighting for the Llamas!

Do it for the Llamas!

King of blogs

2005-02-23T02:22:00.000-05:00

I am no stranger to elections for myself. In fact, this King of Blogs tournament is my second major voting event. I ended up placing 9th plase in Wisbang's Blog Awards against such popular bloggers as Lileks, Victor Davis Hanson and Bastard Sword. I am no stranger to this type of war. What I did the last time is the same thing I'll do this time. Present my major pieces to the people and let them chose for themselves.

Since this not contest contains not only content but structure allow me to provide you with a guided tour.

The first thing to note is the blogger search function. You can search my blog from the top of the screen for pretty much anything you've ever heard of on this site.

Many may recognize this as a modification of a Movable type template. You would be mistaken. It is heavily modified from a regular blogger template. You can see other blogs with the same original base template at LOSLI, Patty-Jo or Julie with a B. All three of these I helped set up to some degree.

On the non-standard extra sidebar on the left, let me direct your attention to the nice effect of mouseover links. You will notice that it is completely compatible with all normal browsers. I think I'm the only blog in the sphere that uses them. It is an extreme space saver.

Something I've had a problem with over the months is browser functionality. What renders one way in Firefox or Mozilla will not do the same in Internet explorer. I've done my best to accomodate all users. There are three points to be aware of when looking at this site.

The first is the red, white and blue stripes that appear to run down the sidebars. It is an Internet Explorer specific feature that I have not been able to reproduce for other browsers.

The second point is the flavicon you will see when in a non-Internet Explorer browser. A flavicon is the little nuke you see on the address bar and will only show up in Internet Explorer if it is in the root directory of your site. Unfortunately, blogger does not support that functionality, or any storage, save your template and articles.

The third anomaly is the music. I've been trying to feature some independent artists and provide a little ambiance music at the same time. It will only auto-start in I.E. and will show a puzzle piece in other browsers. I have not been able to find the proper code as of yet to auto-start music in any other browsers. As a work-around, I have installed a stand-alone link to the featured song.

Most everything else is fairly standard fair on this blog. The colors are something that can change on a whim. The only color I am really afraid to use is white. Many of my regular visitors can vouch for that. When I win I may be changing to more royal colors to fit the new status.

I hope you have enjoyed this tour. If you have seen enough you can go back to your own blog and provide a supporting tracback to the King of blogs tournament and vote for me.

If you would like to see the vast array of content I have written you can click on the "Learn About Me By reading" section in my mouseover links. If you have questions or comments I can be reached through comments, email by the icon provided on the left sidebar or you can Skype me on Thursday or Friday evening.

If, after all of this, you still would like to sniff out the competition you can either go back to the King of blogs tournament mainpage, or you can follow these links:

Dr. Sanity
Blue Glow Worm

Gratuitus links to the Judges:

News From the Great Beyond
Ogre's Politics and Views
SmarterCop

This article will remain on top until the new king (or queen) has been crowned.

The desert is GREEN!

2005-02-22T19:18:00.000-05:00

This is Death Valley!!

Yes, that picture is not some average California hill that gets a bit or rain now and again. IT'S DEATH VALLEY! Have you ever seen the California desert so green? Come to think of it, have you ever seen the California desert green? Me neither.

This is for Nickie Goomba and JulieB (and anyone else withing driving distance):

If you've got the opportunity for a road trip go down to the desert with a camera. You'll never forget it. They've got things blooming down there right now that people have never seen before.

Go see more pictures: LINK

WOW!...Just.....WOW!

Notes to God

2005-02-22T17:54:00.000-05:00

A co-worker sent this to me earlier today. Kids say the darndest things:

A nun asked her class of young children to write notes to God. Here are some they handed in:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God:
I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset You made on Tuesday. That was cool.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God:
Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don't You keep the ones You already have?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God:
Maybe Cain and Abel would not have killed each other if they had their own rooms. That's what my Mom did for me and my brother
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God:
If You watch me in church on Sunday, I'll show You my new shoes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God:
I bet it is very hard to love everyone in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I'm having a hard time loving all of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
In school they told us what You do. Who does it when You are on vacation?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
Are You really invisible or is it just a trick?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
Is it true my father won't get into heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
Did You mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
Who draws the lines around the countries?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
I went to this wedding and they kissed right in the church. Is that OK?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
Did You really mean "do unto others as they do unto you"? Because if You did, then I'm going to get my brother good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
Thank You for the baby brother, but I think you got confused because what I prayed for was a puppy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
I want to be just like my Daddy when I get big, but not with so much hair all over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
You don't have to worry about me; I always look both ways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
I think about You sometimes, even when I'm not praying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
Of all the people who worked for You, I like Noah and David the best.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
My brother told me about being born but it doesn't sound right. They're just kidding, aren't they?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
I would like to live 900 years just like that guy in the Bible did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,
We read Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday school they said You did it. So, I bet he stole Your idea.

2005-02-22T16:29:00.000-05:00

Images of hope 17

2005-02-22T02:02:00.000-05:00

This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace, now home to the 4th Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped home and put in the memorial museum in Fort Hood,Texas.

The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.

Kalat was so grateful for the Americans liberation of his country; he melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam and made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiers and their fallen warriors. Kalat worked on this memorial night and day for several months.

To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.

Do you know why we don't hear about this in the news? Because it is heart warming and praise worthy. The media avoids it because it does not have the shock effect that a flashed breast or controversy of politics does. But we can do something about it. We can pass this along to as many people as we can in honor of all our brave military who is making a difference.

This story was derived from: Bush Country and Operation Iraqi Children.

I wish I could keep this one on top for a while, but there are so many images yet to be posted. I may never be able to post them all.

Minding the Map

2005-02-21T22:07:00.000-05:00

Yep, I've been neglecting the guestmap again. I don't think I've go too many people on it right now, but here goes nothing. (Remember, sign the guestmap and get a short piece written about you.):

What can you say about All @ Sea? Well, they guy's living in Hawaii, surfing, taking pictures, surfing, getting some grub, surfing, rinse and repeat. I'd never seen a surfer's blog before now. It's not bad and rather mellow. He's got this "Children of the 80's" post that I found myself nodding me head to like a dork. It's good stuff! Go read.

Progressive Conservatism is one of the reasons the Dems lost Florida. It's a centered perspective from the right side of the street. Yep, Mark talks out the same orifice I do...wait...nevermind. Let's just say his breath smells a whole lot better. Give him a spin. Check out his site.

I don't think I've done Dangerous Logic yet, but I should have. I think this may actually be the first blog in a long time that can spark my interest without resorting to politics. There's some really neat stuff over there. One of which is the Darwin Award candidate that didn't know the difference between a flack jacket anda bulletproof vest. I say did because he is now in the past tense. May god have mercy on his stupidity. Anyway, that's just one of many spotlights on the blog.

This last one is kinda cool. Capital Region People is actually the blog of a radio show taht comes on Sunday mornings at 6 over WYJB B95.5 FM. Heh. My fist radio guy! If this keeps up I'll be on with Larry King or something....NOT! Anyway, go check out what the blog of a radio personality looks like.

Well, that's it for now. Remember that I'm in that King of Blogs tournament. Go vote for me again, clear your cache, do it again. And if you really want to be nice, a trackback expounding on your approval of my new found royalty could quite possible earn you a seat in the royal court.

Terri Schiavo faces sentencing tomorrow

2005-02-21T17:46:00.000-05:00

So, what did Terri do? Was she one of those pedophiles running around with her students or son's friends? Did she pull off some bank heist? Was she the one that killed her five children in her bathtub? No.

Terri is the one on trial for her life because she can't form full sentences. That's right, she is lacking in full vocal and motor controls. Somehow that's grounds for some humane form of death, terminal dehydration. Normally it would be starving her to death, but people will dehydrate to death before they starve.

So what would have happened if we applied the same policies and procedures to others with similarly restrictive disabilities? Who would we be knocking off next?

How about Stephen W. Hawking? Yes, that's right. The super brainiac behind A brief history of Time and enough galactic theories to have him considered with minds like Albert Eienstein, Aristotle, Plato and others. Sadly, he'd have to go. You see, he can't speak without the aid of his electric wheelchair. His motor skills are so limited he needs his head to be propped up or he'd fall over. Oh yes, he definitely needs to be in the same place she is. Isn't he just an empty shell without all of his gizmos?

To be completely honest, Hawking would be put down before Schiavo. You see, Terri can talk. She has a limited vocabulary and no vocal training, ever, but she can talk. Here are the recognized words that she can speak and their sources (Taken from the Empire Journal):

A list of Terri Schiavo's documented vocabulary references:

Witness: Nurse Heidi Law
* mommy
* momma
* help me

Witness: Nurse Carla Sauerlyer
* pay (meaning "pain" when she was in discomfort)
* Haaaiii (meaning "Hi" in response to "Hi Terri")
* mommy
* help me ("Help me was, in fact, one of her more frequent utterances. I heard her say it hundreds of times.")

Terri's Mediplex records:
* stop (in reference to one medical procedure being done on her)

Terri's family members:
* ugh-hugh (meaning yes)
* ugh-ugh (meaning no)
* yea ('yea' was a word she reportedly first re-learned to speak in 2002.)
* No

Hat tip: Beth from My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Maybe we could have whacked Helen Keller too? All she could do was grunt for the longest time. She was deaf, blind and, due to her other two afflictions, mute as well; At least until someone actually trained her how to speak again. After that she became one of the world's most renowned people in the field of deaf and blind assistance. No, that would never do. Lets put her down like a bad dog as well.

Maybe we could get someone to give Terri some therapy? Hasn't that been tried? Sadly, no, it hasn't been tried. Her husband will not allow Terri any form of therapy whatsoever, including allowing her whole foods she can swallow. Yes, she can swallow. Her motor functions and physical capabilities are thus that she could probably perform a swallow test if she was permitted to try. Alas, her husband has not allowed her to try, or have physical therapy, or have a brain scan, or be legally videotaped (some short clips have surfaced on the net, probably inadmissible in court or something), or even be outside in over two years.

So what is he hiding? Why won't he let people try to help? Why is he so adamant on having her put to death?

There are only two theories that I know about. Both of them point to him as a genuinely bad person. The first theory comes with a 1.7 million dollar payout from her death. The other is that he is guilty of the injury she sustained in the first place.

The first theory is viable only to the extent that he has already used about 500,000 dollars of it for lawyers that will help him put her to rest. The other part is that the family has agreed to take complete care of her and let him have all of the money when she dies. So it doesn't look like he's in it for the money, unless he's looking for it right now.

The other theory goes back to the nature of her original injury. You see, she was taken into the hospital with a blunt head injury sustained in the home. There were no witnesses as to what really happened with the exception of Michael Schiavo. Some experts have gone as far as saying that the head trauma was caused by another person, but Michael has never spent one day on the stand for assault. He has only been on the stand to put his own wife to death through terminal dehydration.

That's a death not even fit for a dog. At least we euthanize dogs. Terri Schiavo will not even get that luxury if the jury decides, without even looking at evidence that she deserves to die. Thank god this guy wasn't around for Helen Keller or Stephen W. Hawking. What sort of a mess would we be in then?

Images of hope 16

2005-02-21T15:18:00.000-05:00

Relief supplies brought to Banda Aceh

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Large amounts of relief supplies line the side of the runway here Jan. 10, and aircraft and vehicles from a variety of countries sit on the tarmac. More than 18,000 Marines, Sailors, Airmen, Soldiers and Coast Guardsmen with Combined Support Force 536 are working with international militaries and nongovernmental organizations to aid the affected people of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake Dec. 26 triggered devastating tsunamis. International efforts to minimize suffering and mitigate loss of life continue as the CSF 536 servicemembers provide humanitarian assistance supporting Operation Unified Assistance. (U.S. Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Ben Sakrisson)

The next King of Blogs

2005-02-21T11:59:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's true. I have been nominated to be the next king of blogs, along with two other pretenders. Of course, that's what they are, pretenders. I mean, who else is worthy to be king than me?...okay, okay, so I've got a chance at least. Good luck to my competitors. May you not be trounced too soundly.

So what can you, my loyal hoarde minions do to help the cause? Well, first off you can go vote. To quote some famous old dead guy, "Vote early and vote often." Heck, if someone can find that magic Kos code from the blog awards it wouldn't hurt either. Of course, I'm not going to tell you how to cheat (clear cache and click again) the system. That would be entirely unethical (but would probably get me a win).

The other way you can help is by tracking back to the King of Blogs post that is the control center for this contest. If you don't know how to track back or are still on blogger comments or something, there's a built in trackback pinger they link to. If that doesn't do it for you e-mail me and I'll set you straight.

They keep calling it a contest. IT'S A WAR PEOPLE! Complete with siege engines. Heck, if I can get DC involved I'll have my own Carl Rove as well.

I must be off. I have war preparations yet to make.

(Almost forgot. The Llamas will be up tonight.)

Reflections of my military past, redux

2005-02-21T11:05:00.000-05:00

I've run this story twice in the past and each time it has met with good review. For me it's sort of a redirect for why I'm blogging. I blog about so much more these days, but this is one of the primary reasons I started. Enjoy.
(This is also the winning submission post for The King of Blogs tournament.)

When the first plane hit I was on board the USS Ramage assisting some people with opening a safe that no longer had a combination but still contained classified material. That was my need for being there as I was a Cryptologist and had the clearance to decipher the material. Someone from combat (an area next to ours and the control center of the ship) asked me if we had the scoop on what was going on with the world trade center. I gave him one of those deer in the headlights stares. What the hell was this guy talking about?

I followed him to the mess hall where they had a big screen television (the largest of probably only 10 televisions on the ship and most are only about 20 inches) just in time to see the second plane hit. What the hell was going on? When the first plane hit I thought it was just some idiot that can't steer like that guy they found flying a crop duster around the White house a few years back. When the second plane hit I knew something was wrong. After a few minutes to figure out what I was actually seeing I went back to the place where we were working and told my supervisor at the time what I was seeing. He went to the mess hall, as I could not leave the people cutting into the safe because of the potential classified material.

Much of the next hour was a blur. I remember seeing the pentagon get hit (this is when I finally saw in my own mind what was happening). I remember seeing the towers actually fall. I remember seeing the huge dust cloud and the people running down the streets of New York. I remember the captain of the ship saying that something terrible had happened and we would be conducting an emergency deployment in about an hour (we were probably about an hour into this event). I remember trying to check CNN.com but couldn't get through (I blamed the crappy internet connection that the ship had at the time). I even called my house a couple times before we were deployed and received no answer. I clearly remember though that something horrible had happened in New York and we were going north to make sure it didn't get worse.

Within 2 hours of the first plane hit we were deployed and going north. What I found out a few days later was that we were actually the first ship to pull out of Norfolk (a point of pride). We had about one third of our crew because we were getting ready for a deployment and many people were on leave or otherwise unable to get to the ships because of a base lock-down. I only had about two pair of good underwear on the ship as I did not expect to be deployed and did not believe I needed that stuff on the ship at the time. Luckily, a buddy of mine had a few extra tee shirts and some unused underwear or I would have come back rather crusty. Another piece of good fortune is that they had just restocked the galley so we at least had a good deal of edible food (I say edible because ship food is rarely if ever considered good).

So with none of our gear, (it was stored at a different location from the ship, It's a classified information thing you wouldn't...er...I don't even understand.) and only a third of our crew, we went forth and played "plane guard" for New York. Our job was to listen in on the different radio signals to see if we could hear anything special going on or as a second ear for the bridge when planes wanted to land in New York. (Lets just say we weren't too friendly about people flying around at the time..."This is U.S. Navy WAR Ship. State your name, call sign, .........". We didn't even say what ship we were. The response I remember most was some brit pilot scared half out of his wits saying " this is such-and-such airlines flight xxx-xxxx...umm...please don't shoot."

At the time I thought it was sort of funny but after about an hour or two I started thinking about the guy and how we sounded and realized that yes, we probably would knock him out of the air if he even thought the words "Allah akbar" (god is great). This is not anything against Muslims, they have every right to be here and be free, just like non-Muslims, if not more. It was just as though a small dog came up to the rotweiler on the porch and took a chunk out of his soft underbelly. We were on the complete defensive and wanting something, anything to tear limb from limb.

After about a week (10 days) of this routine, we were relived and went home to our families. When we got home it was like we had missed the most important week in the world. Everyone else in the world had the opportunity to see what was going on, watch the footage, analyze it in your own mind, to mourn the loss. We were not afforded that opportunity. We were on a ship, away from the news, and had to rely on the information our captain told us, and a few snippets of e-mail that managed to slip through to find out what was going on . (I got none by the way.)

Pretty much everybody on the ship did not show any emotion for what had happened. It's not that we were a bunch of crass, unfeeling monsters. We feel all of it, everyday. It's just that we've been trained to do a job no matter what and we realize that if we don't do that job efficiently lives can be lost. We don't have the luxury of thinking about whose fault it is, or how we screwed up, or some hair-brained theory about how Bush planned the whole thing. It is not up to us to decide what it means. It is, however, our obligation to act out the wishes of those in leadership even if it costs us our lives, or time away from our families, nasty living conditions in a hostile environment, etc.

Something that many civilians don't realize is that we've seen MANY more lives lost than you have. I'm not speaking of actually watching people die. I'm speaking of having people that are close to you or associates in your company dieing. These are people that could have been you in a slightly different circumstance. Here's a short list of losses I have been forced to recognize in the same way civilians recognize 9/11: The USS Cole bombing, Khobar towers Bombing, the USS Forestall fire, multiple plane crashes. These are the ones you have read about. Here are a couple you haven't heard about unless you really, really watch the news: USS Leyte Gulf lost part of a boat crew in the Persian Gulf while doing boarding operations, serviceman gets blown up by a lose mine planted by North Korea while on patrol on the DMZ.

I think the thing that stands out most of all are these Monday morning quarterbacks. Where was the outpour of emotion when the OTHER (Khobar) towers were hit? Did any civilians or news agencies demand results when the USS Cole was hit? No. Sure, there was outrage for a bit but everyone said "Well, it's the military and that's what they're paid to do. You know, they're risking their lives and all. It's okay for our president to sit on his fat ass and collect knobbers like collecting stamps and embarrass the United States and all it stands for. We are all well aware that other presidents have had the same affliction but this was the only time I personally have had to endure the international embarrassment when a president disrespects his position like that. When you're overseas and talking to someone from the host country what do you say? Anyway, this is supposed to be about 9/11 so let me wrap this up.

For me, 9/11 was just one of many losses. As a military member I had to accept what happened and move on to the continued defense of Democracy throughout the world. Apparently, I'm the only one who did. As people complain about how we need to concentrate more on Afghanistan I see they will be having their first free elections on October. The only reason I have a link to this is the median was trying to show how we're failing over there by highlighting how we lost 23 people in Afghanistan this year. Yeah, right, failing; of the over 9 million registered to vote, (about 90 percent of the estimated eligible electorate) 41.4 percent are women. Gee, that just says failure to me. It's a loss to me but I can accept it. We have other, more pressing matters to attend to in the world.

We need to make the hard decisions in the world. No one else will make them. The UN has been proven corrupt; I'll prove it if you want. It's not too hard to do. Many of our allies turned their backs on us because we took the path less traveled by. Unfortunately, what we need to do in the world isn't always "PC". Sometimes you need to do the internationally unpopular thing to ensure American safety. Peace isn’t always the right answer. If my opinions makes me just another American warmonger, (blatant plug) then so be it.