into the minds of the masses

Traffic has been down to this site recently, now that I'm not posting three times a day and making Google work quadruply hard to keep up, but I am getting weirder and weirder googlings.

For a long time half of my traffic, maybe more, came from people looking for the cigarette smoking, jack-hammer fearing, mother-to-be, Mellisa Williamson that, I guess, still gets people over here (four in the last twenty). More recently, Juliana Wetmore, the girl born with Treacher Collins syndrome, has brought maybe a quarter of my goolge traffic. Add in the occasional searcher for "nakedme" (a page I had up with a picture of just my face -- a picture that's not there, but a page that still is), or someone looking for virginity being sold on eBay (still my top searches thanks to the fictional Rosy Reid) and that pretty much wraps things up.

Aside from the sociopathic tendencies that might bring one to search for cherries to pop via eBay and the lonely horniness that could lead to searching for blogs with naughty pictures attached -- not that crazy. Except for the few, more random searches...searches that I've been seeing a lot more of lately.

There are searches like "a girl love a girl" that leads people here from Google Japan or roommate lazy unemployed tv frigid that bring visitors form closer to home that have a sort of poetic nature to them. Sometimes reading through the referrer list of search engine hits opens up some window on the psyche of the world. Other times there are hits like the Google search for "little boy haircuts" that include an ever so sarcastic snippet that brighten my day -- knowing that someone out there is thinking along the same lines as I have about one thing or another. Still other times, searches remind me of long forgotten stories I have written about like the animal burial at sea that lead to terrorism paranoia.

I don't know, it all acts, sometimes, as a window into the soul of humanity. Sometimes it is ugly, but sometimes kind of cute...other times, it just makes me feel like I'm not so different after all.

not all democrats suck

A group of Democrats here in Michigan want to raise the minimum wage to $7.16 an hour -- a hike that is long over due. It is a tragedy that in a country that has seen such amazing prosperity and growth over the past 50 years, minimum wage workers are paid less, in real/constant dollars, than at any point of time in that period. Conversely, it is sad that the richest workers are paid more in real/constant dollars than at any time during those years. Where the fuck are our values?

Republicans and Chambers of Comemrce will bitch and moan (and, in fact, are) that requiring the poorest among us to earn more will somehow hurt the economy. That paying a McDonald's worker -- who currently can't buy a "value" meal with what he now earns for an hour's work -- more will hurt small businesses, and destroy an economy that is suddenly so "fragile" when this idea is proposed (as opposed to being held as "strong and growing" during the whole Bush campaign). I would contend that paying a McDonald's employee enough to buy a value meal would be good for the economy -- that spending is a good thing in a capitalist system, and that the more money is out there in the hands of consumers, the better (an argument that sounds freakishly Bushian in nature to me). I would contend that allowing a McDonald's worker to work one job to earn his living rather than two or three would be good for those family values that Republicans would seemingly rather legislate.

Republicans seem to forget that though capital and investment is important for the growth of an economy...our economy is ultimately rooted in the consumerism of the lower and middle classes -- all money trails end up at the grocery stores, restaurants, and retail stores, all services ultimately aimed at that lowest level of capitalism (okay, aside from big ticket items like houses and cars and the like). After all, a tech company provides services to a bank that provides services to the consumer that buys shit at the store. It's a good thing to have money in ordinary people's pockets.

But I'm probably not making sense, I don't want to spend nearly enough time writing this as I need to. I'm just glad that finally some Democrats are showing some balls and doing something for the common man rather than just blowing a bunch of hot air and cuddling up with the Republicans so as not to upset them.

a grand glacier

I walked downtown today to see for myself the ice jam that has Michigan's largest river flooding over its bank from Lake Michigan East past here in Grand Rapids, 30 miles inland. I got to a bridge that normally hangs twenty feet or so over the rushing waters only to find myself ten feet or so above a field of ice oddly reminiscent of the glaciers I viewed from thirty-thousand feet ravaging the massive wildernesses of Greenland. In places, crevasses had formed -- thick cracks that weaved back and forth across the frozen water -- in very few others, the currents were strong enough to open up ten foot holes so as to remind passers-by that there was still a living stream underneath.

Nonetheless, I wanted to jump down and walk across, playing Shackleton in some fool-hardy game that more than likely would have led to my very cold, very quick demise.

It woulda been cool before I broke through.

garden state

A movie I should have seen months and years ago and could have written myself today.

Timing is everything sometimes....but lessons learned are lessons learned.

the best you can is not good enough

I've tried to post a couple of times this week, but either blogger or the library's computers have been FUBAR and being cyberasswipes that won't let me...so this is probably a post in vain eh? Oh well.

There hasn't been much to write anyway I guess. Dick and Dubya are back for another four years of trashing the place and forcing poor Th. Jefferson to maintain his record-setting rpm. I've moved and been enjoying the hell out of NetFlix, having rented five movies this week (I HIGHLY recommend the documentary Outfoxed about the Fox News Channel's assualt on journalistic integrity -- as well as Mean Girls which was very well written by the ever so hot Tina Fey and acted by the even hotter Lindsay Lohan). I've also not washed my hair for almost a week now -- testing that notion that hair knows how to take care of itself better than the shampoo makers. Yeah, that's about it.

i hate moving

I am moving this weekend. Finally. I had wanted to move out in october, but I didn't have the money...and when I finally thought I had it, the apartment that I found took two weeks to get ready. Oh well, it's almost ready, and I'm moving my stuff there tomorrow. I may be moving myself there too...it depends on the level of stink of new paint and stuff.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, I won't have internet access there (and my computer only works half the time)...so I will be relying on the library and the school computer lab for all my internet time -- which means irregular posting.

Of course, until the end of February I won't have a job and so may very well end up at the library almost daily...but it's not as given as my access now. In March, I will be getting a computer as soon as I get the other three-quarters of my student loan...so you may not even notice a thing.

guess who's birthday it is today?

The very first episode of the Simpsons was broadcast fifteen years ago today -- January 14, 1990. FIFTEEN YEARS. That makes me feel so old.

RDRR.

borat the rabble rouser

Da Ali G show is one of the most brilliant shows to come out in years. Nary an episode broadcast leaves me without tears in my eyes from some episode of laughing. Among my favorite characters on the show (and always good for a huge laugh) is Borat, the third most popular man in Kazhakstan, on an adventure to discover a bit of America in each episode of his show.

Sometimes he get's a tad "controversial". In the show's second season, Borat got in front of a crowd at a Country-Western bar and sang a song called "Throw the Jew Down the Well" which was a tad anti-semitic in it's overtones. If it wasn't done for comedic effect and Sasha Baron Cohen, the comedian that plays Borat, wasn't Jewish, it might have been really bad...as it was, it showed a barfull of rednecks as a bunch of anti-semetic asswipes.

Well, Borat's done it again. According to the article, he somehow fanagled himself into being invited to sing the national anthem at a rodeo...I'll quote the article for the rest of the story:

After telling the crowd he supported America's war on terrorism, he said, "I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards ... And may George W Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq." He then sang a garbled version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."


The Roanoke Times reported that the crowd turned "downright nasty." One observer said "If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him."


Cohen and his film crew were escorted out of the Salem Civic Center and told to leave the premises.


"Had we not gotten them out of there, there would have been a riot," rodeo producer Bobby Rowe told the paper. "They loaded up the van and they screeched out of there."

Man, I can't wait to see that episode.

the bad color

I just discovered the Buy Blue website via See the Forest and wanted to pass it along to those that read this and feel as I do about the political climate of this country (and/or hate the Republican junta).

According to their website:

You may have voted blue, but every day you unknowingly help dump millions of dollars into the conservative war chest. By purchasing products and services from companies that donate heavily to conservatives, we have been compromising our own interests as liberals and progressives.


BuyBlue.org is a concerted effort to lift the veil of corporate patronage, so consumers can make informed buying decisions that coincide with their principles.


Currently, we are developing an extensive and interactive website where users will be able to monitor corporate activity in real time. We cannot do this alone; we need an army of Blue buyers to be the eyes and ears of this movement. All we have to do is put our money where our mouth is to make it profitable to be ethical.


Our collective buying power WILL make a difference, and we WILL be heard.

Right now, their list of blue companies is down as they fact-check and the like, but a recent blog entry caught my eye given that CostCo has finally made it's way into Grand Rapids. It seems I may have to become a frequent shopper as they are about as blue as they come (and since they pay their employees an average of $16 an hour I might just be thinking about a new part time job)...at least better than Sam's Club/WalMart (and who isn't?).

joke of the day

Knock knock?

Who's there?

Not the Iraq Survey Group, they packed up before Christmas.

Yes, that's right, the U.S. officially gave up it's search for the Weapons of Mass Destruction (and, for that matter, the "weapons of mass destruction program related facilities" that spoken of in last year's state of the union address) almost a month ago.

Not that it didn't find anything, not that it was too dangerous to continue the futile search, not that the dissolving wasn't inevitable after nothing turned up in the months after invasion, not that this is unexpected, is this news newsworthy. No, it's that it is only now being acknowledged.

Given that the existence of WMD's was the original justification and purpose for the war, it is odd that it has taken this long for the end of the search to be reported. I find it unnerving. I don't know that it is the fault of the news media for not reporting it or the government's for not bothering to tell anyone, but something seems very undemocratic about this. We, being in a democracy, should have been told immediately. We should have known right away.

In any case, Dubya still believes the war was "absolutely" worth it, as he told Barbara Walters in an interview to be aired on Friday. He also is maintaining his hardline approach to never ever admitting a mistake and suggesting that he, being alone in the world on this one, still thinks eventually we will find something...even now that no one is looking.

...I bet the second that nobody finds something while not looking, it'll be all over the fucking wall.

*sigh*

did you know?

In medieval times, the whiter your teeth were, the more urine it meant you drank.

I'm just saying.

president bush speaks

Dubya doesn't talk to the press much. He's had far fewer press conferences than any president since who knows who and the few interviews that he's allowed with the press have been with conservative-friendly outlets (aside from one Sunday morning show -- I forget which one), I presume because they'll take it easy on him. Now he's talked to the The Washington Times. In an interview done just yesterday, he said some things that I just have to address.

"I fully understand that the job of the president is and must always be protecting the great right of people to worship or not worship as they see fit," Mr. Bush said. "That's what distinguishes us from the Taliban. The greatest freedom we have or one of the greatest freedoms is the right to worship the way you see fit.
"On the other hand, I don't see how you can be president at least from my perspective, how you can be president, without a relationship with the Lord," he said.

First off, I'd like to think that there's more that distinguishes the United States from the Taliban than the right to worship as we please. I'd like to think that we aren't so thuggish when it comes to the freedom of the press, for instance, or that we have a relatively stable system that doesn't rely on militaristic tribal leaders for order (or lack thereof) and drug production and trafficking for our economic base. I mean, we actually have one of those pesky Constitution and a general rule of law that we operate under...something more basic and fundamentally other than anything the Taliban could ever pull off in Afghanistan. Maybe that's just me.

Second off, I have a problem with the President of the United States saying anything that approaches "I believe you need to be a Christian to be President". I mean, I'm a Christian and all, but there's just no way that I could even think that myself. It undermines everything that he says about freedom of religion, and he seems to admit it:

"I think people attack me because they are fearful that I will then say that you're not equally as patriotic if you're not a religious person," Mr. Bush said. "I've never said that. I've never acted like that. I think that's just the way it is."

In other words: "I wouldn't say you're less patriotic if you're not a religious person, but you are."

planning your future

It's truly insane when you can order a book six full months in advance, but that's exactly what you can do with the new Harry Potter book (called Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince).

You know, I've never read any of the books and only seen the first movie and parts of the second and third. I really don't care either...but I sure wouldn't mind having J.K. Rowling's writing career.

sometime's it's what's not said

I saw this on teh soapbox and had to share it:

The last time the White House had any progress to report from Iraq was October 21, 2004.

"if I would've known..."

People are idiots. See a guy walking down the street, wearing a helmet, and they'll point and stare, whisper to each other, "hey, look at the retard!". Until they find out it's because of a war injury. Meet Cpl. Tim Ngo...not all casualties of the war involve body bags.

and the asswipe of the week is...

...Austin Aitken of Cleveland, Ohio who, after having watched the contestants on NBC's Fear Factor eat rats, lost his appetite. He's now suing the network for $2.5 Million.

The guy might be crazy, however. The lawsuit he filed was hand-written. Not only that but, and this is funny, he is "not at liberty to discuss the complaint unless it is a paid-interview situation."

ethics, you ol' dog

Anyone paying much attention to what the Republicans in Congress (especially the House) are doing now that they've been in power for ten years and have the most comfortable control of the government they've had in decades? Back in 1994, when they took over with good ol' Newt at the helm, they were so starry-eyed and idealistic...blasting the Dems for having sunk into a power-induced lull of ethics. And now, here we are.

And here is a political cartoon that says it all just right.

getting my sea legs

I just finished my first school paper in six bloody years. It was weird, let me tell ya. I mean, I write in this here blog most every day, and often times with posts that could be seen as college-sorts of essays on current events or even philosophy, but it's not the same, not the same at all.

Here I write for myself...well, myself and anyone that cares to listen (I don't care what any blogger says, you do end up pandering to your audience a bit)...but a chool paper is for the prof and the prof alone. It is not only being written for someone that holds a position higher than you in society, or someone that holds a position of power over a grade that could follow you pretty far, but someone that you can't expect to bullshit. I mean, I can talk a lot of shit...but I just can't for a prof, and it's when I feel the most need to -- because I want to sound smarter than I am. Ugh. That and it's not what I want to write about...something I've always had a problem doing (who knows how many class journals I've neglected in life because I thought the idea was gay). Oh well. I'll cope. I'm just glad to have it done and submitted. whew.

Oh, as for the topic -- the condition of federalism in the United States today...I wrote all about the No Child Left Behind Act. fan-friggen-tastic.

gettin' the itch

I am so starting to get my itch to travel back. I haven't had it for a couple years now, but before then...man, I wanted to get out there and see the world.

I have no idea why it's back. I find myself going through itineraries in my head -- where I'd fly in to wherever I'm going, where I'd go from there, how little I'd plan things, and just go. Southeast Asia has held a certain luster to me, but with the tsunami and all, it's sort of flitting back to Europe. ...to just get a Eurail Pass and do Europe again...just bum around and stuff. That would be sweet.

our anal retentive airwaves

Fox won't show Mickey Roony's ass during the Superbowl, deeming a commercial in which his backside is visible for two seconds is "inappropriate for broadcast".

I actually feel somewhat embarrassed about these sorts of judgement calls by American broadcasters. Are we that afraid of our sexuality here that even the view of an 84-year-old man's butt is "too sexual" for us to see? Really. I can't imagine that many people would be aroused by this, on the contrary, I think people might turn their heads away.

It's sad that we are so afraid of our sexuality that even our naked bodies, even when presented nonsexually, are too disgraceful to show to the world, and that showing them is deemed sexual. I'm suddenly reminded of a friend of a friend who was caught for pissing in an alleyway after the bars closed and put on the sex offenders list here in Michigan for it. Because his wee-wee was exposed, it was equivalent to rape in the eyes of the government. Sweet.

who says senate committee meetings aren't funny

From today's confirmation hearings of Alberto Gonzales:

Shortly before the hearing ended, Leahy asked Gonzales if he had made any mistakes in the war on terror?

"I'll be the first to admit I'm not perfect and I make mistakes," Gonzales said.

"Glory hallelujah," Leahy said. "You're the first one in the administration that said that."

I only hope that this guy for whom "torture" seems to only consist of those things leading to death (and who is hopelessly reticent in answering questions) doesn't become any higher up a member of this administration than he already is.

...sadly, however, he'd be a step forward from Asscroft.

student loans are stupid

Or maybe it's just Western Michigan University...

So I need my student loans in order to pay rent, buy food, and all that crap, right? Well the government of the United States graciously lent me $8000 to pay for my tuition, school supplies, rent, and food. Awesome. Well, the dispersement was last week and I was expecting the cost of tuition to be taken from that $8000 and the rest being halved to give me now (the other half coming halfway through the semester -- as mandated by the Department of Education)...leaving me with half of $5800.

Dispersement day came and I had $1585 in my checking account.

I freaked out, thinking I'd been shorted $1200.

After a call and a long time on hold, it came down to this -- yes, the original $8000 was halved but the entirity of my tuition for the semester was taken out of the first half, leaving me with the $1585 that's supposed to cover my books ($150), supplies (I need a new computer and was hoping to get one), and two months of existence. Then, during the first week of March (when my classes are two-thirds over, having no exam) I will receive the second half of my dispersement, $4000, to get me through the next two months.

Is it just me, or is something just plain fucked up about that? I mean, isn't it typical to have your costs front-loaded in the semester? Obviously, there are the costs of books -- but it also seems reasonable to expect students to need to pay security deposits on apartments, buy computers, and that sort of thing...to make it through the entirity of the semester, from the beginning.

Ugh. Oh well, I think I can make it. It'll be tight and all, but I should beable to penny-pinch my way to March 1. It'll be good for me anyway, in the end it'll mean I save money since it means my budget's down $200 a month for two months.

the great comic book sale

I'm going through a bunch of old stuff, looking to get rid of it. Included in that stack are a bunch of old comic books that my mom had found and bought before she died. Anyway, I don't know what to do with them and I don't really want them, so I want to sell them. I read that selling comics on eBay SUCKS so I'll just use this here blog and the power of google to have people find them if they're interested. Regular readers, sorry for the intrusion to regular broadcasting here, but I's gots to do what I's gots to do.

So, I am just going to list the title of the comic, along with the issue, volume, and a judgement call on my part to it's condition (I'm by know means knowledgable about condition grades for comics, but I'm going to go by this guy's criteria). I'm not going to include a price on this page, but will give you one if you write. If any catch your eyes, please e-mail me and I will send you photos/scans and any information that you may want or need. Haggling is, of course, acceptable given my ignorance here -- but I got a good nose for when I'm being screwed so don't think you'll get away with dishonest haggling. That said, here we go:

Classics Illustrated
The Illustrated Story of the FBI #6 VG
The Red Badge of Courage #98, vol. 1 VF

DC Comics
Superman #12 (1987) NM
The New Adventures of Superboy #2, vol. 1 NM
The New Adventures of Superboy #3, vol. 1 NM
War of the Gods #1 (1991) NM+
Wrath of the Spectre! #1 (of four issue series) VF

Harvey Comics
Baby Huey #30, vol. 1 VG+
Felix The Cat, #104, vol. 1 F
Friendly Ghost Casper #12, vol. 1 VG
Friendly Ghost Casper #14, vol. 1 VG
Friendly Ghost Casper #26, vol. 1 VF
Friendly Ghost Casper #50, vol. 1 VF
Sad Sack #110, vol. 1 F+
Sad Sack #129, vol. 1 F
Sad Sack #134, vol. 1 F
Sad Sack and the Sarge #21, vol. 1 VG+

Marvel Comics
To be added once I get some more sleep.

STAR Comics
Planet Terry #1, vol. 1 NM
Starberry Shortcake #1, vol. 1 NM

good news from the indian ocean

An Indian helicopter was flying over one of the remote islands in the Indian Ocean when it was attacked with arrows...a sign that some of the tribes living out in the middle of nowhere may have survived the waves instead of being wiped out as was originally feared.

a silver lining of the tsunamis...or not

Fred Phelps is an asshole and if there is a single person alive today who's eternal damnation is assured, it is he. His "church" -- the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas -- is known for picketing the funeral of Matthew Shepard (and wanting to erect an anti-memorial to him) and everyone's favorite website GodHatesFags.com and is now gloating over the deaths of 2000 Swedes due to the tsunamis.

The asswipe has posted a "news release" (linked to a site posting the release, not Phelps' site) praising God for the disaster. "How many tsunami-dead Swedes are fags & dykes?" the release reads, "vacationing on their fat expendable incomes without kids to bother and spend money on." But then he shows his true colors, damning an entire nation for having sent a pastor to jail for a month for having said in a sermon that homosexuality is "abnormal, a cancerous tomour in the body of society" which the courts found to be incitement.

How in bloody hell can a person call themselves Christian and act this way? I'm in no way opening up any sort of discussion here, as I don't really care what Fred Phelps has to say or allow his "doctrine" to muddy the whole of Christianity in my eyes, but really...it's like a child molestor calling himself a friend of the children or a rapist calling himself a feminist. So much hate, so much vengence, so much evil...

movie season

Well, I think I have an apartment lined up. "Think" being the operative word there. The guy called yesterday and said that a couple people had applied over the weekend and that he had a couple questions for me...I answered them, and he seemed pleased...then said that he'd call me when the place was ready. So probably...I guess.

I also start classes today. Tonight, actually. Two classes -- an intergovernmental relations course and a political envirnoment of public adminstration course -- and that's all, for the next month and a half til work starts up again. So I'm also broke.

But then I was working on some links on another site and found out that Blockbuster dropped their price down to $15 a month for unlimited rentals. Given that I can watch 4 or 5 a week when I'm bored, that's like a buck a movie. That's sweet. I guess I'll be a shut in once I move in...

the serenity prayer

This is something I've read time and time again over the years, and for reasons only my subconscience knows, I've been thinking about it tonight:

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference." --Reinhold Niebuhr, The Serenity Prayer

2005

I just got back from a very tame new years party...I like that. We played card games, trivial pursuit, and just sat around talking and drinking. It was swell. I hope everyone had a good evening and will have the happiest of years in the coming 365 days.

But with the new year comes the resolutions. I've done much over the last few months straightening out my life and getting some direction. For that I am happy, and I don't doubt that I will continue on track. For the first time in a long time I feel as though I am heading into the future rather than stuck in the past or present and it feels GOOD...I don't forsee anything happening that would knock me off that track.

But there are still a few things. Some little, some big, that I need to work on still, and so now is as good a time as any to start it off. So, without further ado:

1. Stand up for myself. I need to stop wilting under pressure and doing things to appease others -- sometimes putting my wants ahead of others. I took a step towards that tonight. I didn't go into work. Two weeks ago I told them I was not going to work and they told me too bad...then they called me again tonight to "make sure" I was coming in and I said no. I think I'm fired or quit or something, but I don't care. It was $35 a week for sitting at the door checking IDs on Friday night. I hated it, I didn't like it, but they needed me...but I put my own wants ahead of their's -- and though I felt a little bit guilty at first (and thought about caving and going in anyway), I feel just fine about it now.


2. Exercise more. I've even thought about working my way up to jogging or joining the YMCA.


3. Volunteer my time more. I suck at this, I look for excuses to not...but it's good for me, good for the community, and just all around good. I'm not just talking soup kitchen stuff either, but committees dedicated to improving my city


4. Get out of (non-student loan) debt. Being in school and paying for my living expenses with loans will allow me to use the money I earn to pay off family I owe to and my credit cards which are just killing my credit. I need to not go on vacation (too much) or to the casino (too much).