gutwrenching

The numbers of dead from the waves is officially at over 100,000 now but it may go much, much higher. Until now, the area where the earthquake actually occurred, the 9.0 earthquake, had not been in contact with the outside world. Fly-bys have now been done, and the devastation is beyond belief. In one town there was only one building left standing, in many villages there are absolutely no signs of life. In these areas, the government is fearing that enough people have perished to bring the death toll to 400,000...in Indonesia alone.

Furthermore, according to The Times of India:

Red Cross is estimating the toll could shoot up to 1,000,000 dead (from the present 80,000) in Asia once more information comes in from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Andamans are situated just north of Sumatra, the epicentre of Sunday's quake that set off the killer waves.

There is so much we just don't know about what has happened to so many people. There are reports from individual towns that have already buried (or burned) more than the official counts are at and know of hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies yet to be disposed.

5000 European tourists are still unaccounted for.

As for relief, the governments of the world (and especially the US) are still being rather stingy in their relief, but the people are doing their part. The Evening Standard is reporting that Britons are donating at a rate of one million pounds an hour. Amazon.com has collected over $7 million alone for the Red Cross and Americans have donated $18 million to the Red Cross in total. CARE is hoping for $10 million from the American public. If you, like me, have no cash available to donate, eBay has set up several ways to donate proceeds of your auctions to several organizations.

All that said, in a sign of human resiliance, people are already returning to the beach. I think it's kinda sick myself, at least while there's still so much to clean up all around them, but hey...you gotta have your vacation time, right? man....

a needle in the haystack

With so much death and devastation going on in the Indian Ocean, it's good to see at least one "happy story". It is odd to me how wonderful this story is even though it presupposes the death of a wife and mother. At least a kid has his dad.

It is also bothering me that all these stories that we read come from tourists...white people. There is a sore lacking of stories from the people that actually live in these areas...people that won't ultimately get on a plane and fly away to the safe, undevastated homes to cope with what happened on vacation, but will rather spend the rest of their lives rebuilding the world they live in. It seems somehow dehumanizing to me...as if their stories don't matter...maybe I'm being too sensitive (not that I ever do that).

the new american value

In three weeks President Bush will be sworn in again. After the ceremony on the Capital steps there will be a parade, fireworks, and balls. Washington will be a gigantic party. The whole thing will cost somewhere around $50 million.

Right now we have hundreds of thousands of troops in Iraq, fighting, killing, and being killed; attempting to bring order so that the delusion that elections will be held in a month can die a little bit slower. Daily, we spend $167 million killing and opressing people.

The earth shakes, tsunamis form, and tens of thousands of people die...we send over $35 million (the cost of fighting in Iraq a whole five hours) and the president waits three days to say anything, thus becoming one of the last world leaders to make any sort of statement, send any sort of condolences. I mean, I know these people have brown skin and many are Muslim and are therefore our "enemy" as far as public policy goes, but this is going way too far. Hell, even the evil pharmecutical corporation Pfizer can donate $35 million.

Gee, I wonder why the world hates us?

walmart styled irony

You can buy Wal-militia at WalMart as well as When Corporations Rule the World, Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed is Shipping American Jobs Overseas, Slam-Dunking Wal-Mart (currently out of stock -- did people buy this at Wal-Mart?), The Case Against Wal-Mart (equally out of stock), and my personal favorite, Nickel and Dimed.

Anything to make Sam Walton's ghost a buck I guess...

tsunami information

I found this blog which seems to have loads of information on how to help. I'd pick up a shift to post except my nerd brother would get pissed if I was on the computer too long. Hell, maybe I'll just piss him off...he didn't hear anything about this until today.

...for someone who's on the computer 8-10 hours a day, you'd think he might come across something close to being news-related at some point. :?

george w. bush, asshole

You know, the Washington Post has it right, Bush is being rather insensitive not saying something about the suffering that so many people are going through. Back on September 11, 2001 the world came round and offered help and condolences immediately...and yet we (being the red states-elected representative government) still go off on France et al for not doing enough...

...and yet in the Indian Ocean, where at least 20 times as many people have died and millions more are homeless, heartbroken, and otherwise ruined we (and by that I mean he) practically ignores the issue. "Here, take $35 Million (which I might add is less than 0.01% of the GDP) and shut up" he sends the Secretary of state to say, "don't fuck with my Christmas Break with your petty problems." What an ass.

Ho ho ho.

like a dagger in my heart

Some of the greatest victims of the tsunami are the children...Sophia Michl is 10 years old. She is German. She looking for her parents, Mr.Norbert and Mrs.Edeltraud Michl.

Then there's little paavo

And all sorts of others...

God, I hope everyone finds each other.

I so want to just die right now.

23,000+ dead

I am in awe of the disastrous tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean and the death toll which seems to climb by a thousand every hour or two...with just as many seeming to be missing. There are fears that entire islands (and their inhabitants -- some of them the entirity of indiginous tribes) wiped off the map forever. There are millions now homeless, tens or hundreds of thousands of tourists stranded away from their families with no way to contact, and therefore millions of people around the globe holding their breath, hoping and praying that their loved ones are okay.

In the wake of this, the US has pledged $15 million, an amount that has been called "stingy" by Jan Egeland, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief at the UN...and I can't say I disagree. We better send more to these poor people, if only because of those same reasons behind the way we act in international affairs and criticize other nations for coming to our aid when we ask. But now is not the time to criticize.

I have been searching out ways to help, as I did with the Juliana Wetmore story -- and more help is needed now. Across the board, it seems that agencies are asking for cash donations more than food or supplies (if for the reason that it's cheaper to buy in bulk, as well as buy closer to the disaster zone than to ship). Here are some suggestions:

• AmeriCares


• Red Cross (Canadian Red Cross for you crazy canucks) or 1-800-HELP-NOW


• UNICEF


• CARE (and again for you Canadians)


• Mercy Corps


• International Medical Corps


• Oxfam


• Direct Relief


• Action Against Hunger

juliana wetmore one more time

UPDATE -- Juliana has been seen on a lot of televsion specials lately (especially the Discovery Channel's "Born Without a Face"). I am trying to update this post as it seems to receive a lot of traffic every time her story is told. If you have any information for me to add (you're in the family or you've heard news that I haven't), e-mail me or leave a comment. Let's all help this little girl who's story has touched us all enough to find out more about her! Thanks.

If you've visited this page repeatedly over the last week or two, you may have noticed I took away the donation information regarding Juliana Wetmore, the little girl born with Treacher Collins Syndrome. Though I am no longer accepting donations to send along (not that I received any), I want to still make it easier for people to send their own.

Why, you might ask. Well, her father works for the government (I believe the military) and so has excellent insurance that will cover her dozens of surgeries, but that insurance doesn't cover the expense involved in her family's traveling to the hospital which comes to around $6000 a year. It's also good, I think, that the family have some extra cash lying around as a "just in case" fund (can you imagine if her dad lost his insurance?). That said, I'm going to keep the donation information posted here and in the earlier post (which is the main page coming up in google searches). That said:

Donations can be made mailed or wired to:

Vystar Credit Union
PO Box 45085
Jacksonville, FL 32232

account number 2102465
wire routing number 263079276

You may also want to check out a progress journal set up by the family at CaringBridge.org.

If you would like to donate flier miles to the family, read this

For other posts I have made which include other news and info I have come across, check here, here, and here.

For a story not yet linked to by myself, read about Juliana's visit with a teacher also born with Treacher Collins here.

the stuff of conspiracy theories

Donald Rumsfeld, inspiring patriot that he is, flew to Iraq before Christmas to say Merry Christmas to the troops of the Army that is and not the Army the troops want. Anyway, while there he made some speeches, among them one where he mentioned "the people that shot down the plane over Pennsylvania," presumably referring to 9/11 (odd as it might be for a member of the administartion to go on about that day).

The official story, of course, is that brave Americans waving the American Flag and dressed as founding fathers, said "let's roll" and stormed the cockpit of Flight 93 while humming the Battle Hymn of the Republic or something of that nature. There have always been questions about this official story and wonderings as to whether the plane may have been shot down. Saying what Rumsfeld did, however, will only fuel these questions: was flight 93 shot down?

As NPR's Robert Siegel reports (around 3:30-3:35 in the audio), it was probably just a slip of the tongue or whatever and rather meaningless...but given the secretiveness and blatant lying that Rummy and Co. conspire in on a daily basis it's sure to raise a few eyebrows.

the big one

My Way News: "Rescuers piled up bodies along southern Asian coastlines devastated by tidal waves that obliterated seaside towns and killed more than 22,000 people in nine countries, and officials indicated Monday the death toll could climb far higher.

Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India, and morgues and hospitals struggled to cope with the catastrophe. Somalia, some 3,000 miles away, reported hundreds of deaths.

The death toll rose sharply a day after the magnitude 9 quake struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia. It was the most powerful earthquake in the world in four decades.

Government and aid officials suggested the death toll could increase significantly, citing unconfirmed reports of thousands more deaths on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and on India's Andaman and Nikobar islands."

I don't even really know what to say...it's just so devastating and horrible. For what it's worth, my thoughts are with those that are now suffering.

merry christmas

Merry Christmas everyone.

Not much to say here, except that last night was pretty lonely. I have a fantasy of sorts of having a girl 'round Christmas and taking a walk down a city street lit with pure light Christmas lights tastefully adorning victorian houses, with a calm air still and empty but for those tiniest of dry snowflakes that are all but invisible until they catch a light just right and then glow like the stars.

I went outside last night and that snow was in the air. It's almost magical in it's own right, but it would be perfect if only there were a little more.

...but then we always want just a little more, don't we?

a festivus for the rest of us

I'm sorry everybody, I forgot to wish everyone a merry festivus yesterday. It completely slipped my mind...actually, I didn't know it was celebrated on December 23rd. I suck. Go ahead and air your grievences for me doing so, though the feats of strength, sadly, must be put off 'til next year.

twas the day before christmas...

...and the kids were all bad

So we sat them down, told them what they would have gotten, and sold their gifts on eBay.

Ho Ho Ho.

edit: Sorry, the first (actually, second) aution listed above got cancelled, the new one is here.

re-edit: Relisted again here. eBay's givin' 'em some static (and a bunch of worthless asswipes are putting in fake bids...these people should be castrated and their gonads fed them on skewers made of shards of their own bone).

it's all the rage

I only post this two days before Christmas because I think it's crazy that it's been in the news twice in one day -- suicide by chainsaw. First there's Paul E. Smidt Jr., who, in being served a federal arrest warrant, found it better to lean into a running chainsaw. Then there's John Lloyd Jones, a terminally ill cancer patient who took his life the same way. I mean, first off, I don't really understand suicide to begin with (well, I suppose I can understand the terminally ill and constantly in pain wanting to), but to put a chainsaw in your neck? That's messed up.

Speaking of suicide, has anyone seen the police station suicide footage? I don't know how a guy gets taken in for questioning having just shot an officer and not finding the gun hidden in the perp's waistband, but the San Bernadino police did (Bravo, guys!)...and then used it. The footage is pretty surreal really, I wathced it at Mucho Sucko and thought it was fake...only to read about it having happened last year through google.

Anyway, after all this, have yourself a Merry little Christmas...ho ho ho. :P

high crimes and misdemeanors

A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as "torture" and a June 2004 "Urgent Report" to the Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered up.

...

The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists. The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene Commander--Baghdad" to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the techniques that the President is said to have authorized. -ACLU Press Release

I don't even know what to say. Where is the International Criminal Court when you need it to take away the biggest war criminal this side of Milosovic?

the parallels continue

So much can be said to compare the United States of the 2000s and Germany of the 1930s -- including their leaders. Here's another one: Time names President Bush Person of the Year.

In 1938 it was Hitler. Then again, in 1939 AND 1943, it was Stalin and in 1979 it was Ayatullah Khomeini.

damn you cash!

I'm listening to clips on iTunes and came across Johnny Cash singing We'll Meet Again. I've heard it a million times, it always chokes me up...and it is again.

the joys of bouncing

I had to work at the bar last night. It is was fun, let me tell ya. Usually, there are six or seven bouncers on (one to watch the door/ID -- usually me -- two to admit people to the "upstairs" where the DJ's at and cover is charged, and three to walk around and make sure everyone's playing nicely) but last night there were only three of us. I was at the front door, as usual, and the others are upstairs getting things ready for close when two guys start fighting right by me. Almost as soon as they start they're on the floor, with three or four others trying to grab the two apart...it ain't working. So I have to dive in. Suddenly, I'm down on my knees trying to pull the two apart which isn't exactly working given the total chaos that comes with six people grabbing one another and eventually grab one of them, shove him in the doorway with one of his friends and stand in his way of getting back in. "Leave. Now." I tell them. The friend asks if he can grab their coats...I shouldn't let him given the violence that just occurred and generally we just throw everyone involved out (not that I really knew who was "most involved"), but I was there by myself. The fighter walks out rather politely and I turn around to kick the other party out. "Okay," they say, "we just got to get our friends from upstairs." I tell the fighter in their group, "no, you stand by the door," along with his male friends -- not kicking them out until the other two guys left because then there'd be a brawl on the street -- and allow a girl (who I knew wasn't fighting since they were all guys) to go upstairs. Once the first two are gone, I kick the guys out, they get the car, and the ones from upstairs come out and leave.

This having to all be done by me myself. Ugh.

Then there's some fat, drunk fuck who tries to come in after last call and I turn him away, he somehow sneaks in the back door which I guess was unlocked. He's wandering around, gropes a waitress, and knocks over a chair, breaking it. I grab him by the arm, take his glass of water away and push him out the front door..."Okay, time to leave," I say as I'm doing it and when he gets outside he decides to pull the drunk fat fuck ploy of garbling some semi-threatening words about me grabbing him and I just shut the door in his face. He stands out there with his drunk fat fuck friend saluting me with his middle finger.

As this is all happening, a homeless guy tries to waltz in to use the bathroom. It kills me to be mean to homeless people, but I can't be letting them in because it almost always leads to trouble. So instead, he stands outside the door harassing people coming out, begging for handouts. I have to go out three times to tell him to leave...each time having him apologize and walk away, every time having him come back a couple minutes later.

This all happened over the course of a half hour. And all with no help, all the other guys upstairs and not responding to my requests for help over the headset...

Ahhhhhhhh, the joy of my $8.50 an hour job.

And now they expect me to come in on New Years Eve to spend the last hours of this year and the first of next year sitting at the door, checking IDs and wishing I were anywhere else. As Mike LaFontaine would say: I don't tink so.

more fun with ebay

Enough of the sad and depressing, howabout a penis shaped potato chip on eBay? Now only $2.50!

update on Juliana

I am seeing the name of Juliana Wetmore, the girl born with Treacher Collins Syndrome (read more about her here), coming up a lot in my search engine traffic. The information for donations has changed. Donations can be made mailed or wired to account number 2102465, wire routing number 263079276: Vystar Credit Union PO Box 45085 Jacksonville, FL 32232 Thank you and God Bless.

It seems that Juliana Wetmore's story is reaching around the world. A school in her area was able to raise $3507 to help. This is awesome.

I'm done collecting donations now as I haven't received any to pass along. However, I will keep the flag that I've been running on top of my entire blog on the top of this post so people can still send their own donations.

hell yeah

For a little pick me up, watch the teaser trailer of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Yahoo! movies. Tim Burton + Johnny Depp = cinematic wet dream

I heard they were doing a remake of the movie and was very disappointed...until I heard that those two were attached. I love the Gene Wilder original film, but if anyone can pull it off, these two can. Aside from Depp's Crybaby, I can't think of a work by either that I detest...the three other movies the two have worked on together (Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, and Edrward Scissorhands being the others) have being wonderful...aside from the boringness of the Sleepy Hollow story.

oops

Watch out how you plant your graden...Seriously, who could "accidentally" plant flowers in the shape of a swatstika and not realize it? I guess that REALLY seeing the trees and not the forest, eh?

the values of george w. bush

Do you remember September 11? You know, when those terrorists hijacked the planes and flew them into the twin towers in New York (and the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, but remembering those planes seems so passe these days), knocking them down? Remember that? Of course you do, if not because it was so traumatic an experience for all of us, because Bush and his cronies (and the Republican Party in general) have a one-track mind in that direction everytime they speak. Bush lives, drinks, eats, breathes, swims in, dreams of, and otherwise is fully occupied in thought, word, and deed with the events of that morning...or so it seems.

Until Tom Ridge stepped down as Secretary of Homeland Security.

Very quickly, Bush nominated a replacement for Ridge. He was Bernard Kerik, commissioner of the New York City police department during 9/11 and to say he was a huge supporter of everything Bush has ever down in terms of terrorism, war, and civil libertites would seem to be an understatement. He was recommended personally by that superstar of Republican politics, Rudy Giuliani.

It didn't take long for the stories to go flying. Kerik, it seems, besides just having a look that was mob-like actually did have ties to the mob. He didn't pay taxes for his illegal immigrant babysitter either. There are questions about whether his first two marriages overlapped (subscription required). It turns out that he not only was cheating on his wife at one point, but he was cheating on his mistress and his wife at the same time. And, The New York Times (subscription required - sorry) is reporting that the guy used an apartment donated to the 9/11 rescue effort to give workers there a place to rest, a place that overlooked that most venerable spot in Republican folklore, ground zero, as his own personal love nest to have one of his affairs.

Yes, that's right. Bush, who never stops thinking about (or at least talking about) the tragedy of 9/11 nominated a man who spat on that tragedy to get a little poontang on the side of his mistress and wife.

Is it possible that no one knew about this before? Certainly. But the guy is crazy, a man can not cheat on his mistress, hire an illegal immigrant, have mob ties, and all this shit without bringing up a little stink when he walks in the room, if you know what I mean. It seems that his questionableness when it came to his ethics and morals didn't matter when he was brought into the national spotlight. All that mattered was that he supported the president without fail.

Those, my friends, are the values of this president. So many people that did so, claimed they voted for the man because he shared their values. If those are the new American values, this country is fucked.

I can say no more.

the instant devaluation of an honor

George Tenet, Tommy Franks, and Paul Bremer receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As a result, all previous honorees were thrown into confusion as they suddenly wondered if their so-called honor, was in fact, a national practical joke.

Seriously, George Tenet? The guy in charge of the CIA when the CIA uncovered all sorts of evidence for the existence of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" that didn't exist? Tommy Franks? The general that dangerously underestimated the number of soldiers necessary to invade Iraq, the effect of which is the bloody mess that (should be) making headlines in the media?

The internet acronym WTF is not enough for this. I need to spell it out...in capitals...WHAT THE FUCK???

the best cause ever, just in time for christmas

One of the greatest fears that I have of ever becoming a parent is that there would be something wrong with my child. Putting up with a "bad egg" would be bad, putting up with the death of a young child would be almost unbareable, but I think even worse than that would be dealing with a child who will always have not just an uphill climb in life, but a 2000-foot cliff. If my kid had severe learning disabilities or was blind and deaf, or was born with severe birth defects (like missing limbs) I think I would love them more, but it would be a hurtful sort of love because I wouldn't help but feel that they will always be judged unfairly by society and never even be given the chance to begin thinking about living to their full potential. I would always fear that they would be seen as freaks and nothing else...dismissed by everyone for being so radically different in a world fixated on the vain and external.

As such, stories of severe defects and adversity always pull at my heart-strings. I want to do everything in the world to just make things normal for these kids...or as normal as they can be. I have never felt this more than the story of Juliana from Jacksonville, Fl., a girl born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, a kid born without a face.

She was born missing 30-40% of the bones in her face, no eye sockets, her mouth severely deformed; she eats through her stomach and breathes through a trache tube; people stare at her. She's had 14 surgeries in her first 20 months to correct her problems, but she may need as many as 30 more -- surgeries that cost money, money that the insurance company can't come up with completely, money that the parents need desparately.

If I had money, I would give all I could to help this little girl out. I don't have money, however, and so the best I can do is use this space to ask that anyone that reads this consider doing so themselves. Donations can be sent or wired to:

Vystar Credit Union
PO Box 45085
Jacksonville, FL 32232

Account number 2102465
Wire routing number 263079276

The original broadcast video of this story (which also includes information for how to set up your own fundraiser) can be found here.

i need to read the onion more often

Last week's issue had a brilliant article about WalMart slashing wages. If it wasn't so true, I'd be cracking up.

and the 12 days of christmas begin

Need a gift idea? Howabout an image of the president made out of monkeys? The original painting was controversal enough to close down an art show in New York (requires registration). I love this country, especially when censorship occurs in something as stupid as a portrait of the president made out of monkeys.

Canada is sounding awfully, awfully nice right now...

mosh

One of the better political songs of the past couple years, in my opinion, is Eminem's Mosh. Well, he's rereleased the song and the video to fit in with the election results. Check out the video here or a couple screenshots of the new ending at critical montages.

fallujah not under control already

It's indicative of the media's wonderment -- I've had the television on all day, almost all of it on CNN, FOX News, or the networks and all I've heard is that a jury recommended the death penalty for Scott Peterson and jingoistic bullshit about the one year anniversary of the capture of Saddam.

That's all that matters I guess...who cares that eight soldiers died yesterday in Fallujah, a city that was more or less leveled less than a month ago in a so-called "successful" mission to drive out the insurgents. Less than a month and they're back.

You see, this just goes to show how majorly fucked up the situation is in Iraq. It goes to show just how our efforts to quell the violence is only as effective as daming a stream with sand...pour in all sorts of resources and you'll stop the flow, but it won't take long for a little water to trickle through, then a little more, then a little more than that...until suddenly it's as if you never did anything in the first place.

The fact that thigns are flaring up again already is a big story...bigger than some prick in California getting the death peanlty. It is something that actually effects us. But then, it's something that could be deemed as being critical of the administration and that's not something that the media seems to have the balls to do anything about these days.

i could be lamer

...I could be so bloody lonely that a "lap pillow" sounds like something other than a stupid-ass idea for wankers. Don't worry ladies, there's room to be lamer for you too.

stupid people rawk!

So, a guy walks into a tattoo joint to get a German iron cross with the word bravery written across. Awesomeness of that idea aside, it becomes even more awesome when the artist fails to realize there's a "V" in bravery. Watch the video.

number five is alive

Imagine my surprise when I was flipping through the channels just now and I see Steve Guttenberg (!!!) starring in the made for TV movie Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus. I thought the guy was dead, killed in some robotics or police academy mishap, or perhaps killed in a jealous rage by Ted Danson over some baby or little lady...but no, he's been all over the place I guess, according to IMDB. I will rest easier tonight just knowing that Steve is alive and well (and looking sorta like wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper).

the impending collapse of the american economy

This past Thursday, George Dubya told reporters that he "will not raise payroll taxes to solve this [social security funding] problem" (site requires registration, but it is the New York Times and it's free and it's a good thing to register for anyway).

In case you didn't pay attention to the elections at all, Bush wants to privatize Social Security and allow us, the people, to invest some of our social security money in the stock market or whatever else we want to. Besides this plan being neither social nor secure, it's going to cost trillions of dollars. Let me italacize that: trillions of dollars. Why? Because old people of today are due their social security they've counted on their entire working lives...however, if you tell the young people of today that they can take some/most/all of their social security investment and invest with it how they will, then that money's not there to give to the old people.

And so there's a giant sucking sound.

There are two options to fund social security, then, during the transition that will take years: raise taxes or raise the deficit. Bush, infinitely wise as he is, is now completely stonewalling the idea of raising taxes thereby leaving a rise in the deficit as the only option. But where does this road lead?

Well, the United States would have to collect social security from our paychecks as they always do in order to pay for the monthly checks of the disabled and retired. However, the government would then have to borrow money (raise the deficit) to make funds available to workers to invest in the stock market. The governement, therefore, would in essence be borrowing money in order to fuel the stock market. I guess one could look at it as some sort of socialist's dream since much of the private business in this country would suddenly be operating on the investment funds of (and therefore in a stock-markety sense "owned" by) the government, but that's beside the point...the point is, that the government would be borrowing money on our future and putting it into the stock market, something that ain't exactly a guaranteed positive investment.

You see, the government borrows, say, $3 trillion from foreign investors and the like and then redirects that money into the stock market. Aside from certain ethical and political questions of appropriateness, it's all good -- there's a balance in net worth there. Let's say, though, that there's a post-bubble-type "dip" in the stock market that leads to a one-third loss in value of that $3 trillion: Yeah, we're fucked. A sudden loss of one third of the "security" in our future would cause nationwide panic, people would draw money out of their banks, guys in suits would jump out of buildings, and it would be 1929 all over again baby -- minus the prohibition.

Don't believe me? Just ask Argentina...Bush's plan is turning out to be sicenly (<-- I'm checking comments and I have absolutely no idea what this word is supposed to be, heh) similar to the one that lead to their economic collapse.

God Bless King George.

mmmm...that's good satire

Rumsfeld is sticking around the Pentagon even though the shit's hitting the fan in Iraq and it's looking to be like it'll be impossible to ever mop it all up. He says he wants to see the conflict through, stay in charge until we can bring our boys (and girls) home and all that crap. Bush can't retire the guy because doing so would equivocate an admission that a mistake was made and God forbid an American do that...it's better to keep the problem in charge than it is to admit the problem exists. It's 2016.

you know the country's in trouble when...

...The sale of wild horses for slaughter is legalized. Government officials have some excuses for why this is a good idea, but something just doesn't sit right.

Horseburger, anyone?

i hope so

MoveOn has spoken, telling the Democratic Party that they are taking over. I really hope that this happens. The Democratic Party has moved way too far to the right in it's attempts to appease corporate America to tap into it's fundage. MoveOn proved during this last election cycle that The Man®'s money don't mean shit. That when enough of us liberal and progressive types get together, we can move mountains financially...and all we need is an organization to take that energy and focus it into forward momentum. The Democratic Party, as it is organized and run now, is a failure as a vehicle towards change.

What this country needs is three, four, five, or more parties with different viewpoints and opinions to create debate and thereby progress. What we have is one party with two faces...a return to two parties would bring us closer to more.

I hate the Democratic Party almost as much as the Republican. In some ways -- that logical, dutiful, stubborn side of me -- I hate it even more because it has no spine or underlying philosophy. We need that, even if that philosophy is change itself. I could get behind a party like that, I could stand up and fight with a mechanism in place.

whew

I got my student loan notice yesterday...am being allowed to take out enough to cover classes and enough to live off of for the next four months. I also found out that WMU considers 6 hours to be full time for a graduate student, so I was able to drop my one class in Lansing (an hour away) and chill out about my getting into a class that I'm currently on the waiting list for (if I get in, sweet. If I don't, oh well). So I'm going to be able to ease into going back into school with two classes (maybe three), two nights a week rather than go all out, traveling cross-state and taking four classes for 12 hours.

And then there's the fact that I'm able to take out about $1400 a month to live off of. I don't live that well, but I'm taking all of it. Any money that I make at work will therefore be able to pay down my debts...and it should be enough that I'll be down to just student loans by this time next year. That will make life so much more comfortable.

In any case, I was able to look at apartment listings tonight knowing that I'll be able to actually make calls and take some walk-throughs tomorrow and over the weekend. Hopefully, I'll find a place within the next week and the landlord will be willing to wait until I get my dispersement the last week of the month to pay my security deposit -- thus leaving me with enough still to buy a car in the next week as well rather than having to wait for my loan money to come in to do one or the other. At the very least, I'm extremely confident that I'll have a place of my own and a car by the end of the year. That makes me happy. Very Happy.

iraq/vietnam redux

It seems that homeless shelters are already seeing Iraq vets coming in in numbers unseen since Vietnam vets returned in the 60's and 70's. Not only are we doing a crummy job of takig care of soldiers already fighting, but we're fucking over those that did their duty and letting them down.

I'm getting more and more pissed off again.

God Bless George W. Bush.

around the world in one blog entry

There are bunches of good stories to crack wise about today, I'll just list them:

• Jacko Fans Jump Ship - It seems that Michael Jackson's new box set isn't selling well; only 14,000 copies have been sold in the month it's been out. That's like one for every little kid he's scarred for life.



• Anderson woman survives impalement through mouth - I was going to make some sort of "Deep Throat" comment here, but that would be disrespectful. It's a miracle she's alive.



• Reluctant Witness Testifies After Threat Of Jail - Oh how I love the way the media glosses over "dirty" things. But what the hell is meant when they say "Thompson resigned after being accused of using a sexual device during a trial." And don't even get me started on this taking place in Oklahoma where lesibianism is so rampant they can't let girls go to the bathroom together.



• Memoirs of Bad Speller Napoleon Hit Auction Record - Napoleon was a bad speller, Bush is a bad speaker...both are megalomaniacs hell-bent on blowing up the world...hmmmmm, maybe there is such a thing as reincarnation.



• One in four buys broadband for porn - I guess that makes three out of four a complete liar since there's no other good reason I can think of for getting broadband. Sheesh. Now, if you'll excuse me...

wait a minute

During the campaign, Dubya found it loads of fun to pick on Kerry for having voted against a spending bill that would have equipped the troops in Iraq. As we all know, the troops still are lacking much of what they need, including full-strength armor and the like.

Well, Rumsfeld is over there right now talking with the troops. When one of them asked him about this, this is what Rumsfeld had to say:

"As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time...

"I've talked a great deal about this with a team of people who have been working hard at the Pentagon... if you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can blow up...

"The goal we have is to have as many of those vehicles as is humanly possible with the appropriate level of armor appropriate for the troops." from Yahoo! News

In other words, what he's saying is, "Sorry son, but you can't always get what you want. Even if you did, you might be killed anyway. Besides, we're still trying to prep for a war that we started a year and a half ago."

Brilliant. Bloody brilliant.

yushchenko was poisoned

Not that it's any sort of surprise really, but it's been confirmed. It is an uneasy feeling that an opposition candidate in a former Soviet Republic (one of the nuclear ones if I remember...or did they give them up?) is attacked in a very Soviet-style way. Hopefully the uprising amongst the people takes hold and this news destroys the current government and a more stable, less Soviet, government can come to power. Democracy can only take hold when the people want it...and Ukrainians want it, and so I wish it for them.

good news for grand rapids

I missed this news when it came out last week or so, but I guess the Wealthy Theatre is getting another shot! This is awesome.

For those not in Grand Rapids, the Wealthy Theatre closed down earlier this year, which had me upset. It's one of those places that is a lynchpin in a community...and when the community in question is in deep trouble, it's even that much more important. And of course there's the cheap 2nd run movies and awesome film festivals...

a must see site

Fallujah Pictures -- showing you the photos that the media possesses but won't show you. It's important that we all know all that's going on, and we sure can't count on the networks or mainstream newspapers and magazines.

that's a big burger

I came across this article about Hardee's new "Monster Thickburger" which consists of two one-third pound beef patties, three slices of cheese, four strips of bacon, and mayo and packs 1420 calories with 107 grams of fat. Disgusting. What I'm noticing is that there's something of an uproar -- including lots of ribs by the late-night comedians -- occurring because of this thing because of the fact that it's just so bad for you. Is this thing new?

I'm looking at McDonald's nutritional values page (which wasn't easy to find, I might add -- their search feature conveniently wouldn't link me directly so I had to guess, cut, and paste the URL) and seeing that the double quarter-pounder that they offer (and have since I worked there when I was 16) has 730 calories and 40 grams of fat. Add on a Large fry from the value meal (520 calories, 25 grams of fat) and you have 1250 calories and 65 grams of fat. Coke doesn't have any fat, but a large one has 310 calories...bringing the total to 1560 calories and 65 grams of fat in a large Double Quarter Pounder Value Meal (a Big Mac meal would save you 170 calories and 10 grams of fat -- just to inform you). Hardly much better than the new Hardee's burger...granted, that's just the burger that's that disgusting, but it's still worth the comparison.

Just for the sake of comparison...check out McDonald's Chicken Selects®. A five-piece order with ranch sauce has 830 calories and 54 grams of fat (buffalo sauce 690 calories and 39 grams of fat). Add on the large fries and large Coke for the meal and you have 1660 calories and 79 grams of fat -- more than the Double Quarter Pounder Meal. And I thought chicken was supposed to be good for you?

But that's not all. Using Burger King's nifty (and consumer friendly and easily findable) nutritional caluclator, their Double Whopper® with Cheese has 1060 calories and 69 grams of fat. Order it in a meal and King Size the thing and you'll receive a pack of fries with 600 calories and 30 grams of fat as well as a huge Coke with 390 calories bringing the total for the entire meal to...(drumroll here)...2050 calories and 99 grams of fat. So much worse than the Double Quarter Pounder meal (albeit large meal...McDonald's did fail to show stats for "super-sized" fries and Coke).

Biggie Size® a Wendy's Classic Triple® with Cheese with bacon meal and you'll have 1630 calories and 78 grams of fat.

Nutritional Links:

McDonald's
Burger King
Wendy's
Hardee's
Subway (.pdf file)
Arby's (.pdf file)
Taco Bell (.pdf file)

getting on dubya's bad side

Talking with Wolf Blitzer today on his Late Edition show, Pakistani leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf said that he believes the world is less safe because the United States invaded Iraq. Yes, that's right, yet another ally has come out and used the 'M' word that Dubya shalt not speak -- mistake.

I point this out not because it means anything as I doubt even the return of Jesus to this Earth, His taking Dubya over His knee, and spanking the stupid ass while screaming "it was a mistake!" would change Bush's mind...or make him swallow his pride and admit his own folly. It's important, though, to point out because it just won't get the sort of press that it deserves...not that any criticism of government does.

psycho killer, qu'est que c'est?

Three boys (14 and 16 years old) were in a parking lot in St. Augustine, Florida, playing with a golfball, when it accidentally went astray and struck Kathy Feaganes Allen's Sport Utility Vehicle. It didn't do any damage and the boys apologized. What more could be done? Well...psycho bitch needed some revenge, according to the Miami Herald:

Allen started to drive away, but suddenly made a U-turn, ran over a median and struck Grayer, causing severe injuries, and Justin Marshman before knocking over a light pole, Suchy said.

She then drove after Jamel Marshman, crossing two medians and striking a utility box before her SUV stopped in a ditch, Suchy said. The boy ran away and was not struck.

Witness Russell McPhee said Allen accelerated to hit the boys.

After getting stuck she got out of the SUV, lit up a cigarette, and watched the boys lying on the ground -- one hurt critically.

Ho ho ho...Merry Christmas.

There is some coolness in the story though -- the boy not hurt, Jamel Marshman, confronted the woman, but didn't get physical...something I find rather admirable (especially for a 16 year old).

who needs a memory hole?

According to a study done by the BBC, nearly half of brits are ignorant of Auschwitz and what occured there. "It's easy to presume that the horrors of Auschwitz are engrained in the nation's collective memory, but obviously this is not the case," [producer Laurence] Rees said.

Yes, you would think that such a thing as the deliberate and meticulous death of six million human beings and the biggest, most infamous center of that holocaust would at least be familiar to just about everyone when it's relatively recent history...but it's not the case. How can someone live in this world, be educated in any school to any grade above fourth and not be aware of Auschwitz? I can't grasp onto this, I just can't.

It's a feeling, though, that I have sort of gotten used to in the past few years, unfortunately. I wish I didn't have to say that...the way that society is so consumed with whatever it is -- sex, money, ego, what have you -- that it can't take the time to remember those things that should be remembered. So much goes on in the world, millions of people suffer, but so many don't even notice.

...and don't even get me started on the way that people in this country wear blinders.

It is a shame, a bloody shame, that all those poor innocent people were slaughtered only to be forgotten. At least in remembrance their deaths could have done something -- namely preventing anything of the sort in the future. As it is, I fear we're doomed to repeat it.

As for the holocaust, anyone that hasn't read Night by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, should. It moved me. The link to amazon has used copies for a buck.

life as film

Like the end of a movie when, during the big game, a player takes a shot at the goal and it goes in, winning the game...and almost as though making that shot was his purpose for being on this Earth, he dies then and there on the field. It's not just in the movies...It happened in India.

and the pc language police said...

The top ten Politically Correct words of 2004 according to the Global Language Monitor:

1. Master/Slave in terms of computers


2. Non-same sex marriage ("traditional"/heterosexual marriage)


3. Waitron (gender-neutral waiter/waitress)


4. Red Sox lover (Yankee hater)


5. Higher Power (God)


6. Progressive (liberal)


7. Incurious (rather than idiot/moron/retard when it comes to W.)


8. Insurgents (rather than the incorrect "terrorists" in Iraq)


9. Baristas (waitrons)


10. First year student (freshmen/frosh)

If I may be a bit un-PC for a moment: This list is gay. "Higher Power" a PC term? Um, no, not really. "Progressive" a term for liberal? Sorry, but they're different and I didn't see them that confused during the election. "Baristas" are servers (of coffee generally, but servers nonetheless).

Then again, even though I never heard the term -- "non-same sex marriage"? WTF?

...and I'll stick with retard/fascist/warpig/asswipe/sonuvabitch when it comes to the president, thank you very much.

casualties at home

From the Tallahassee Democrat (requires registration...I'm Robert Smith of the Cure myself):

On Tuesday night, Mike Barwick was the grieving but gracious stepdad, speaking proudly of his 22-year-old stepson who was killed in Iraq.

"He was a hell of a man, I'll tell you that," he said of Lance Cpl. Charles Hanson Jr., killed a week ago when a bomb went off as his patrol passed by. "I just hate that he had to go that way."

Barwick, pacing around his home in rural Crawfordville, shared stories about the young Marine who was nicknamed Catfish Junior and loved to read. On Friday afternoon, that's where Barwick ended his own life.

Last month 136 American soldiers died in Iraq, more than any other month, an average of 4.67 deaths per day. Let us not forget that it's not just the soldiers that suffer, but their families and friends as well.

keep looking up

For reasons that best be left to others to explain, tonight is a fantastic contender for seeing the Northern Lights if you're in the nothern climes. The indications are looking the same as they did when they were last out in early November.

Of course, you need to be able to see the sky which is impossible in Michigan here because of the perpetual cloudiness that marks the months of October through March every year...but you have better luck if you live somewhere else. Preferably North too.

I'm still in awe of what I saw a month ago...on two separate nights even.

sexualizing vaginas

I just watched a rerun of a story on the Daily Show about the town of Inverness, Florida's Cooter Festival. Hilarious. So many puns...hilarity ensuing and so forth.

Even funnier is the fact that it's not the only CooterFest out there. I'm thinking a tour is in order of these things. Rey, you in? We can pick you up on the way down too, Dan, if you wanna come along.

you know things are bad...

...when Vladamir Putin, the man who wants to do away with term limits in Russia, the man who has his people whispering the idea of neo-tsarism among the masses, the man whose enemies have a slight tendency of "disappearing" (if only for awhile) says your country seems to be seeking a "dictatorship of international affairs."

I haven't had a lot of time lately to goof around the internet and read the news, and of course the major media outlets would ignore pesky international affairs, but from what I have been hearing about Putin and Russia scares the living crap out of me. This man is scary and getting scarier...and yet not so scary that even he thinks Bush is scary. Scary.

something

more than nothing...

I forget what I was going to say.