fear dick cheney

Yesterday, while hunting, Vice President Cheney accidentally shot a man while Quail hunting. The guy's okay but in the hospital (lucky, I suppose, that a medical team shadows Cheney regularly), and supposedly it's something that happens "from time to time".

Interestingly, however, the news was not reported until today...raising some questions about the openess of the White House (as if we needed another reason to question the willingness of the White House ot open up -- or the info it does release for that matter).

how to get away with high crimes and misdemeanors

Send in Karl Rove. It seems the White House is sending him to the Congressional office buildings and threatening to deny re-election assistance to any Republican that doesn't side with the president as they investigate his illegalities. Of course, if you listen to the White House, there's still absolutely nothing illegal with what the President has done...the fact they have to resort to threats makes me think they realize they've overstepped their bounds something fierce this time around.

fighting arson charges with fire

I still can't get over what seems as a ridiculously over the top reaction that the Muslim world is having in the Dansh cartoon affair...especially considering that, in essence, they are rioting in an effort to protest charges of being a violent religion (presumably because the worst of the cartoons printed depicted Muhammed with a bomb in his turban).

Too add to all the irony, it has been suggested that all this fuss is the result of three additional photos -- much more blasphemous -- that were possibly created by Danish Imams to further infuriate the Muslim world. A further explanation can be found here (for those interested, the first photo seems to come from this newstory...completely and totally unrelated to Islam).

working for a living

As is becoming more and more well known, there is an effort across the nation to boost Democratic votes by placing ballot initiatives on the November 7 polls (much like the gay marriage thing got the Republicans out in DROVES in 2004). Michigan is one of them. This post is little more than a shout out to the Michigan group, Michigan Needs a Raise, that is supposedly working to put this on the ballot. I've been googling the issue and this group to find information on how to participate in the drive, but it's getting me nowhere. So hopefully someone involved will google the issue (something like "raise the minimum wage to $6.85" or "michigan ballot initiative" or "michigan minimum wage" or "minimum wage ballot" or "minimum wage referendum") and find this page, post a comment, and then let the fine people of Michigan get petitions or some such thing.

Or else, perhaps, someone else will know where to send me and everyone that's interested?

i feel so violated

If you ask Jeeves: "how much is it for a large double quarter pounder meal" this page is on the first page. Ugh. Why do people eat that shit, don't they realize they're killing themselves?

a little slice of nostalgia

I've never sent a telegraph, I never realy needed to. For that matter, I never really wanted to send one. Chances are, you're the same way. Now none of us can, at least not with Western Union. Western Union stopped the service on January 27. The technology that was cutting edge for fifty years and about the only economically viable way of communicating over long distances for much, much longer, went out not without a bang and fanfare -- as perhaps it deserved -- but with the tiniest of whimpers, the following message on the Western Union website if you clicked interest for sending a telegram:

Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative.

If I would have known that they wouldn't be around any more, I would've sent one. I don't know to who or much else, but the fact that I never will be able to again makes me wish I would've known before right now.