The Kitty Corner

How could FooPets be better?

2011-02-10T02:17:00.000-08:00

The only site I can really compare FooPets to is SuperPoke Pets since that is where I now take refuge. Here are just some of the things about SuperPoke! Pets that I like.

1. You earn coins for logging in, spinning the daily wheel, playing with your friends, and recycling items that you buy, earn or grow in the garden (more on that later). You can amass coin pretty fast in this game. Coin is used to buy items in the store which are sold for coin. Not all items are sold for coin, but there is a very good selection of items that are.

2. The "premium" items in the store are sold for gold. Just like FooDollars, each gold costs 10 cents. The difference is that there are items in the store for just 8 gold! When is the last time you saw something in the FooMart for 8 FooDollars? The majority of the items run between 15 and 50 gold (1.50 to 5.00) and they give you 5 gold free when you join. If you enter valid credit card information on your profile for your store purchases, you get 25 gold free.

3. They have a release schedule for the store so you don't have to wonder when they will release the next new item. Something new is released every day, Monday thru Friday, on a schedule (12 noon Pacific time or 7PM Pacific time, depending on the day).

4. You can grow stuff! I totally love the garden. You do have to get up to level 5 before you get a garden but you move through the lower levels pretty fast. Once you have a garden (5 plots with the option to buy a second garden for gold or coin) you can buy the seeds you want and grow the items you want to decorate your habitat. Some seeds are coin, some seeds are gold, and they all have different growing times so patience is a must, especially with the gold seeds as you don't know exactly what you're going to get until the seed is done (you know what the possibilities are, but which item you end up with is a surprise).

5. Want and have lists. This is something FooPets desperately needs. How it works is easy: I can go to my home and from there I can chose which items I have that I am interested in trading. Every item that I own doesn't show up on my "Have" list, just those items that I put there. Then I can go to my "Want" list and put the items that I want to have. If I want to do some trading I can head over to the Trading Forum where people post their Want and Have lists. While browsing, SPP highlights items a user has on their list that matches mine. For instance, if I have the 2011 Tickle Me Kay Bear on my Have list, that item will be highlighted if it appears on another users Want list, making it easy to find who is looking for what I have -- or who has what I want. The highlighting appears whenever someone has my want list item in their have list as well as if someone has my have list item in their want list.

6. Trade Requests -- SPP has made it safe and easy! Once I've found someone who has something I want and/or is looking for something I have, I send a trade request and state which item on their Have list I want and which item in my inventory I am willing to trade for it. The request is sent and if it is accepted the items are automatically moved into each others inventory. No fuss and no worry about being scammed.

7. The admins are ALIVE! I actually know who the admins of SPP are and I have conversed with them! I have them in my friend list! They participate in the forums and the quests, they answer questions...now they are far from perfect and in some ways SPP's admins are lacking but at least they are a presence and they are very visible on the site and in the forums.

Up next...how SPP makes the game of playing with an animated pet interesting enough that the players come back.

The FooPets Finagle

2011-01-29T23:13:00.000-08:00

This blog used to be about something completely different (obviously) but now that I've figured out my login information and can get back in, I'm going to use it for a much different purpose -- helping to expose FooPets.

If you don't recognize my username from FooPets its because this is not my username at FooPets. Let them just try to figure out who I am! No, it's not out of fear, it's because I've had this blog since before there even was a FooPets so obviously the username is different.

Will be hopefully posting soon!

In Case of Terrorist Attack

2007-07-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

Since the government is once again trying to distract us all from what is really going on by yelling, "Look, over there! Shiny keys...err...terrorists are going to get you!", I thought it would be a good idea to post my In Case of Terrorist Attack information sheet, because I am far more entertaining than the people that write government websites.

What should you do in the event of a terrorist attack?

If you see a large aerosol can spraying an orange substances, don't run away! Take a moment to ponder whether this could, in fact, be hazardous to you.

The secret to opening the emergency exit is to give it a karate chop at the top, middle and bottom.

No matter what floor you are on, the elevator does not stop on your floor and is cutoff by walls.

Head straight for the exit, or run around the room before leaving?

Luckily, there is no door leading to the contaminated area. Unfortunately there is no door leading to the shelter either. How did you get into a room with no door?

In the event of a terrorist attack, fire trucks will be equipped with ladders and bongs.

Find the small desk with the heaviest monitor sitting on it and crawl underneath.

If you are trapped beneath rubble, use your flashlight to make shadow puppets.

While trapped in a confined space, try not to fart.

In the event of a nuclear blast, swerve into the bike lane and continue to drive towards the blast.

Hey, if it could work in Back to the Future, why not give it a try? A live power line may be just the boost you need to go to the past and prevent this terrorist attack.

Radiation will try to lure you with its siren song. Fortunately, a piece of sheetrock will block its call and keep you safe.

Microwave humans on high for 5 minutes 12 seconds.

Radiation makes you grow taller -- watch your head!

The white tents are for appearance only. If you need medical attention, please lie down on the ground outside of the nice white tent -- we don't want to get them dirty.

No, you still cannot see the file that the government created on you based on the warrantless wiretapping.

Do not offer anal sex to the terrorists. You'll only regret it in the morning.

Remember: Pillage, then burn.

Pop Quiz! Which of these items does not belong?
a) biohazardous material
b) dead fish
c) hurricanes

Decide now where you want to have sex when the terrorists strike so you don't waste time.

The Golden Gate Bridge is not a terrorist target.

Texas, however, is.

So what can we do about it?

2007-04-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

This is my Tuesday topic -- What can we do about changing the way things are?

How can you and I end this pointless, endless war before another 3,333 U.S. soliders die? What can the ordinary citizens do to stop George Bush and Dick Cheney? Protests? Blogs? Let's be honest, no blog is going to change politics or get us out of Iraq, no matter how much we would like to believe that we are making a difference. Bloggers open the diaglogue and get conversations started in the hopes of getting people to think, but that is all that we can do.

Protests don't do much either. Oh sure, a good protest rally (especially one that gets national coverage) sends a message to Washington and to the White House. The problem is that the White House has given us the proverbial finger and no matter what message the people send to the White House, Bush and Cheney are going to do as they please.

What are we supposed to do?

Politicizing the Virginia Tech Massacre

2007-04-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

Let me begin by saying that I am still shocked about what happened today. No, I didn't know anyone there, but things like this really drive home just how unsafe we all are, and just how fragile life is.

Earlier today I went to the MSN message board about the shootings and it was appalling. People were posting about it like it was a joke..."ROFL why are you all surprised?" and "32 dead, not bad, not bad at all but could have been better". Anyone who is sick enough to not only think that way but post it deserves to be shot in the head. Sorry, but killing someone like that would have been better for society than killing those 32 college students.

Then there were the political posts -- it's President Bush's fault, it's the NRA's fault, if we outlawed guns this wouldn't have happened, if the students/teachers inside had been armed this wouldn't have happened, we need to bring prayer back into the schools, we need to stop praying to a god that doesn't exist...to all of these 'blame the other side' posters I have one thing to say --

WOULD YOU ALL PLEASE JUST SHUT THE F**K UP!

Thirty-two lives were lost today (I don't count the gunman, he took his own life and deserves whatever fate awaits him). Thirty-two families are mourning the loss of a son, daughter, brother, sister, neice, nephew, aunt, uncle, mother, father, or friend. Show a little respect for their grief and their loss and stop trying to turn this into something political that you can use against your enemies.

You want to know why this happened? Re-read what I said above about the posts on MSN. Society no longer cares about the loss of human life. We're all so disconnected from one another that 32 people dying means nothing to us. Why is it that very few people took the time to think about those lives lost, those families shattered, and just offer their sympathies, regardless of political affiliation?

And now, my responses to a few of the comments that were on that board:

To those who said that having a few students/teachers with concealed weapons would have stopped the gunman before he killed so many: Most likely it would only have resulted in more deaths when the 'good guy' panicked. Let's not forget that the police wouldn't know who was the good guy and who was the bad guy and would have (IMO justifiably) shot anyone they saw with a gun.

To those who said that outlawing guns would have prevented this: News flash - possessing and using cocaine, marijuana and heroin is against the law, yet there is no shortage of people buying, selling and using these drugs. Outlawing guns would have the same affect on shootings that outlawing drugs has had on people getting high.

To those who said that prayer needs to be returned to the classroom: For the truly faithful, prayer can never be removed from the classroom, or anywhere else, unless you believe that God can only listens to what comes out of your mouth and not to what is in your heart or on your mind.

To those who said that this happened because people aren't intelligent enough to stop praying and realize that there is no God: And just how is losing one's faith going to stop something like this?

To the friends and families of those lost and those injured, my deepest sympathies. You are in my thoughts and yes, my prayers.

Huh?

2007-03-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you come across something that just makes you wonder just how stupid people are. My latest was the brochure that was included with a Visa gift card. Yes, my gift card from Wells Fargo came with it's very own Wells Fargo Visa Gift Card Agreement and User Guide.

It contains some userful information, such as "Although your Card is a debit card, it will not work with debit payment systems that require a personal identification number (PIN)." Stuff like that you need to know. It tells about how they start charging a fee if you don't use all the money within 12 months, and they charge a fee if you lose the card and they have to issue you a replacement card, and they charge you $15 if you cancel the card and cash it out. Oh, and you can't use the card for 'gambling or any other unlawful activity'.

I can't use it for any unlawful activity? When did the criminals start accepting VISA? Is there a drug dealer out there set up to take credit cards?

I know the bank is just covering their own asses, but I really don't think using the card for 'unlawful purposes' is going to be that easy because the people who are breaking the law don't want the trail that a credit card would create.

But if the criminals did take credit cards, think how much easier it would be for the cops to find them.

What is wrong with us?

2007-02-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

Really, what is wrong with us as a society when our biggest concern is not that war with (insert name of country George Bush and Dick Cheney are currently touting as 'evil') is looming on the horizon, our men and women are being killed and wounded every day in Iraq, Osama Bin Ladin is still on the loose (because George doesn't consider him to be important enough to look for), the Avian Flu is still a threat, spinach and peanut butter are more dangerous to your health than trans fats thanks to e. coli and salmonella, and what is the front page news? What is the headline of all the news websites?

ANNA NICOLE'S MOTHER GETS STAY TO STOP FUNERAL
LARRY BIRKHEAD ARRIVES FOR PATERNITY CASE
LAWYER ALLEGES 'FRAUD' IN SMITH BABY'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE
COURT: DON'T MOVE ANNA NICOLE'S BODY
STERN: ANNA NICOLE WAS MY BEST FRIEND

With all that is going on the world, and all of the things that NEED to be fixed (medical care, education, social security, our soldiers dying because they lack the property equipment and training, levees that are no closer to being in good shape than they were when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast) our news is interested only in covering ANNA NICOLE SMITH?

She's dead, and those that loved her should handle their grieving and their disputes in PRIVATE. The outcome of this case is not going to impact anyone but her family. Hello, media, could you please cover stories that affect THE REST OF US and stop pandering to judges, her mother and her alleged boyfriends who are only looking for publicity? I can only hope that custody of her baby is either given to Howard Stern, the man that has been taking care of her, or that some judge makes her a ward of the court and lets her be adopted by a normal family. Her mother and Birkhead only want custody of her for the money that she stands to inherit.

Just my two cents.

Those hilarious right-wingers

2007-02-16T23:06:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wonder if Comedy Central realizes just how much of a threat Fox News is. Unfortunately I'm not talking about "The Half-Hour News Hour", either.

Picture this, if you will: a guest on one of the Fox News shows is saying that every day we are losing more and more American lives, and Ann Coulter very confidently announces, "No, we're not!"

Could someone please let those families of the dead soldiers know that according to Ann Coulter, we aren't actually losing any American lives in Iraq. I have no idea where anyone could have gotten that idea.

I must admit though, that her column at anncoulter.com actually contained a few factual statements. For example, she states that "Any idiot can run for president." This is undeniably true given that an idiot is currently serving as president.

Something that struck me as rather odd is that in her photo section, there is a picture of her posing with the marker for Senator Joseph McCarthy. Too bad that whole "fall of Communism" thing happened before we could have McCarthyism, Round Two, huh Ann?

If I could ask Ann one question, I think it would be this: Why don't you give up the hate angle and tell America what you good Hard-Right Conservatives are doing to make this country better? You've got plenty of examples of what Liberals are doing to ruin it, why aren't you Conservatives fighting to make things right?

Oh, and if you've never read one of Ann's books and are wondering if you should give her writing a chance, consider this little fact: her hardcover books can be found selling on Amazon.com used for as little as 29 cents.

Finally, as a tribute to Ann's amazing writing skills, I give you something to read: Jonah Goldberg on Ann Coulter.

A sad day

2007-02-12T23:19:00.000-08:00

We are members of Catster (the cat site run by the same people who run Dogster) and we learned today that a very sweet, special kitty named Navin has passed away and gone to the Rainbow Bridge.

I don't know why that makes me so sad. Maybe it's because Navin's diary made me laugh so much. He and his Magic Pants were just too hilarious at times. Or maybe it's because we had been visiting Navin's page less lately because we were just too busy.

So busy that we didn't even realize he had been sick for the last few weeks, or that he had been diagnosed with feline leukemia.

Navin, we all love and miss you, and our thoughts and prayers are with your family. I know that you are at the Rainbow Bridge with the tail that you always longed for, running free for the Magic Pants are no longer required.

When toys attack...

2007-02-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

The world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Okay, maybe not literally straight to hell, no matter how much some of the good Evangelical Christians may be trying to push up the schedule for the Rapture, but you know what I mean.

A major American city was brought to a stop by...gasp!... Light Brites? Yes, several devices which can only be described as...well, Light Brites with battery packs were placed in cities around the country to promote Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The Light Brites displayed characters called Mooninites (I think that's how it's spelled, anyway) giving the finger. Giving the finger the best that a Mooninite on a Light Bright can give the finger, anyway.

Do I think that officials in Boston over-reacted? Well, yes and no. I can certainly understand being alarmed to find the electronic things laying around. During the day, I suppose that an LED card (which would not really look like a Light Brite) and a battery pack could be suspicious, but would it have been so hard to investigate, realize what it was (are you telling me there was no one single person within the Boston Police Department that knows about Aqua Teen Hunger Force and didn't recognize the Mooninites?) and dismiss it as a prank at worse?

Do I think that Turner Broadcasting should get into trouble for this? No. They hired an advertising agency to come up with a marketing gimick, the agency came up with the gimick and hired to idiots to carry it out. We'll get to the idiots later. I've heard a lot of people say that Turner Broadcasting should have realized that this was a bad idea. Now unless you believe that villains actually think and plot the way that the villains in the Batman series and movies do, who would think of a Light Brite with a cartoon character giving the finger would make a clever bomb? The bottom line is that they hired an agency to come up with the idea, execute the idea and presumably deal with any issues that arose from the campaign.

Do I think that the advertising agency should get into trouble for this? Well...yes. Not for the idea, mind you. The only way I can imagine those LED thing-ies being even remotely dangerous is if The Joker was behind them (and only if The Joker was being portrayed by Jack Nicholson at the time that the Light Brite bombs were being assembled). The agency could have moved faster when the whole scare started, though, instead of seeing how many Mooninites the Boston bomb squad would blow up. Would it have been that hard to pick up the phone, call Boston and said "Listen, about those suspicious devices that you've found..."

Should the idiots that put the devices up get into trouble? Absolutely. Yes, they were hired to do a job, and that is what they did. But...they also were very much aware of the panic that those devices caused, and even videotaped what was going on while laughing at the chaos being caused. They should have come forward right away and put and end to the whole thing instead of revelling in the limelight and making their stupid comments after they were arraigned and released on bail.

I still do not understand how anyone could have looked at those devices and thought that it was a bomb, but I do understand being concerned about what it was. How paranoid have we become when anything that has lights and wires and batteries is assumed to be some weapon to destroy us? Everything could potentially be a bomb, so does that mean that I should dial 911 and report it if someone leaves the restaurant and forgets his cell phone? Should I be arrested as a terrorist if I put my old VCR out in the dumpster? I've still got one of those big, unweildly cassette player/recorders from the early 80's...I wonder if it could be used to rob a bank?

I don't need a lecture about this being a post-911 world. I'm quite well aware of what happened that day, and we've made the terrorists more successful then they ever imagined. When we use the events of that day as an excuse to panic about every little thing then we have put ourselves into a prison of our own design. There is a big difference between being observant and being paranoid.

You want to defeat the terrorists? Start by letting go of the fear and living your life.

Sometimes a Light Brite is just a Light Brite.

Strange Occurrences

2007-01-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm talking about the one thing that it seems EVERYONE is talking about, how Jennifer Strange died after taking part in a radio contest.

This whole saga (and it is indeed a sage) is just further proof of how screwed up the world is becoming.

First, we have the ill-conceived contest. Who came up with the idea? Maybe it was the DJ's, maybe it was marketing/promotions, maybe it was the station manager himself. We don't know. But hey, who hasn't had a totally fucked up idea? A few years back the Zone radio station had a contest where participants carved pumpkins...with chain saws. In comparison, drinking water seems pretty low-risk.

Someone had to approve this contest, unless you're willing to believe that the DJ's just went out on their own, got a wii and had people show up to drink large quantities of water in order to give the winner said wii. Surely the station has people who research these contests for possible risks before approving them...then again, we had pumpkin carving with chain saws, so perhaps that's not an assumption we should make.

The contest happened, Jennifer finally accepted the tickets to end the contest and yet in audio recordings, even after taking the tickets she still told the DJ's that she could drink more water if they wanted her to. They told her no, that she needed to not be drinking any more water.

Tragically, Jennifer was found dead by her mother. Thank goodness there were plenty of attorneys around to take up the case and prepare to file lawsuits against the DJ's, the radio station, and Nintendo (apparently this who tragedy could have been avoided if only they had kept the original name of 'Revolution', thus eliminating the possibility of a 'wee for a wii' contest). Next I suppose we'll hear that they are suing the water company for providing the bottled water.

An interesting sidenote to all of this is that the attorneys have filed a letter with the FCC asking that KDND (107.9 The End) lose their license. In the letter, the attorney points out that "...a cursory inquiry of any medical office by the station's management would have revealed the life threatening risks of the contest..." This is interesting because Jennifer Strange worked in a medical office. That means that by her own attorney's words she was the one person there that should have known the life threatening risks, yet she participated in the contest and in the very end was still saying that she could drink more water.

Keep in mind that we don't know everything that has happened. The coroner has said that Mrs. Strange's death is 'consistant with water intoxication'. However, the coroner's office has said that the cause of death will not be known for two or three months. Doesn't that strike anyone else as rather odd? Maybe they found something other than a whole lot of water when they did the autopsy. In any case, we don't know everything and until ALL of the facts are out in the open, we need to stop berating the station and the DJ's. And maybe pray for the three children that lost their mother. In all of this there has been no mention of the kids, just the father and the attorney looking for people to sue to get rich quick. The kids are the only innocent victims in all of this.

Welcome 2007...

2007-01-01T02:57:00.000-08:00

I love January 1st. There's just something about the start of a New Year that gives me hope that things can change, that I'll do better and be better this year and something everything will just be...well, better.

I should know by now that things don't work out that way. I just spent the last month lamenting all of the things that are wrong in my life, and yet here I sit, willing to believe once again that I have another chance at getting it right. Will I succeed in 2007? I'll let you know when January 1, 2008 rolls around.

It was surprising to see absolutely NO POLICE out tonight. I was out and about until 11:45 PM (yes, made it home just in time to ring in the new year) and not one cop. Usually there are plenty of police and at least one DUI checkpoint, but I guess funds are low this year so not even a checkpoint the entire holiday season.

The cats totally freaked out because some idiots decided that New Year's Eve was a good time to shoot off fireworks. Not just little fireworks, like fire crackers or bottle rockets (both illegal, but I can get over it). I'm talking about fireworks shells like you see at a professional show being launched, and you know that it's not being done right when half of them fly over as a big glowing ball but never 'explode'. I just hope that if something goes horribly wrong, the only person hurt is the idiot shooting off the fireworks. Sure, I would prefer that even this idiot not get hurt, but if someone is going to get hurt, it should be the idiot and not an innocent bystander.

Darn, that sounded kind of mean and one of my New Year's resolutions was to be nice in 2007. Oh well...

Person of the Year

2006-12-17T00:42:00.000-08:00

Click on the title to read the story. Oh yes, and congratulations!

Things I would like to bitch about

2006-12-12T23:36:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's what this post is going to be. Just things that I would like to bitch about. Here they are, in no particular order (although my subconscious mind may have put them into order without my knowledge):

As of December 11, 2006 the U.S. military casualties in the Iraq war is at 2,927 confirmed dead, and 10 awaiting confirmation from the Department of Defense (here). Don't you just love that word, casualties? It reduces it to nothing but a statistic. We need to start telling it as it is, and if it upsets someone that I say it's about damned time it upset someone. The dead in Iraq are not statistics - there are 2,927 men and women who have returned to the United States in a casket. 2,927 times, families and friends have mourned. 2,927 lives ended tragically too soon. They are not casualties, they are human beings who deserved more than to be added to a numbers column. If you would like to make me a happy girl, pledge to stop using the word casualties and instead say people. Try it with me now. There are 2,927 husbands, wives, daughters, sons, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends that have died in Iraq.
If you cannot turn off your damn cell phone while you are shopping or even worse, in a restuarant, then remove yourself and the cell phone from the area and leave the rest of us in peace. No, I'm not referring to the 'honey, which kind of detergent was I supposed to get?' kind of call. That's what cell phones are for. I'm talking about the people that have to conduct business, catch up with their sorority sister and have a teacher conference via cell phone while in the middle of the store. I'm sorry, but if the call is that important then sit your ass in your car, have your call, and when you are finished turn the fucking phone off and return to the store or restaurant without making the rest of us hear you yell into your phone about how your boss is an ass and your kid has the shits. Effective immediately, I am taking a small air horn everywhere I go and if I come across someone on a cell phone or using one of those damn Blue Tooth ear pieces and it is not one of those short 'I need to ask a question' calls, I'm going to blast the air horn. If I have to listen to you on your phone then you have to listen to me and my air horn. What's that? You can't hear to have your phone conversation when I blast my air horn? GOOD!!!
The arrows on aisle in a parking lot are not suggestions to be ignored if it doesn't suit you. When cars come at me in the wrong direction, I will continue my practice of sitting there in the middle of the aisle. The asshole that is too stupid to read an arrow can back his/her own damn car up to get out of the aisle. It's not my fault that your parents blessed you with only five brain cells, two of which sometimes work.

Damn, I'm all out of time. I'll have to continue my bitching tomorrow, but until then if you remember nothing else from this post, remember no. 1 on my bitch list.

Outraged Yet?

2006-09-27T00:12:00.000-07:00

As of September 15, 2006 - 2,682 US Soldiers killed in Iraq

As the bumper sticker says, if you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention.

Oh happy day!

2006-09-23T00:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, peeps, I'm back! Well, I never actually went anywhere, it's just that I couldn't log into the blog to post because it kept saying that my username didn't exist. Turns out they were right. Oops! But now I'm back, and there's just soooo much to talk about I don't know where to start.

First, let me tell you what I've been doing during my absence.

I got caught up in The Lost Experience. There, I said it. I let myself get caught up in a virtual reality game.

And I will be staying up tomorrow night to listen to the final broadcast of DJ Dan "Taking Down the Man!".

Now if you're not a fan of Lost then you have no idea what I'm talking about and think I'm nuts. If you are a fan of Lost and you aren't playing, then let me just tell you this: when they said that the game and the show wouldn't overlap, they LIED! We found out what the numbers mean, why the stations were built on the island, all sorts of stuff. Also, if you haven't bought the book "Bad Twin" yet...don't. It sucks, and it was good for solving one encrypted message that was given by a caller to the last DJ Dan live broadcast. You won't gleam a bit of information about anything from that book.

I've also become addicted to Poser. Poser is a 3d modeling program. I love it. LOVE IT! But I've bought too much stuff for it and spend too many nights up trying to get just the perfect render. I need a 12 step program.

I have much more to say but it's late and I'm tired so I'm going to bed. I'll post more when I get up.

It's just too hot here, anybody have an island I can visit?

2006-06-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

It is so very freakin' hot! I hate summer...HATE IT! 'Tis the season to burn to a crisp and die of heat exhaustion.

I have, however, found a site where you can buy islands and even rent them...hmm...maybe that's what I need to do...rent an island. I'm sure the heat would be much more bearable if it was accompanied by ocean waves and palm trees.

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness

2006-06-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

That, my friends, is all that we are guaranteed. Just those three things. Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.

Not a whole hell of a lot, is it?

Or is it?

Think about it. The right to life is a pretty big deal in and of itself. It means that you have the right to live, which is more than some people have. Then you have the right to liberty, which is also more than most people in the world have.

Finally, you have the right to pursue happiness. Note that you do not have a right to happiness, but you do have the right to the pursuit of happiness. In my humble opinion, this means that you can do whatever you want to be happy, with one little catch.

You can't do anything that takes away someone else's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, because every other American has the same rights. This is why you can't go around killing people that piss you off, nor can you prevent someone from doing something just because you find it morally wrong. Unless the actions of others are causing you harm, you can't stop them.

Now I know there are a lot of 'religious' folks out there who like to invoke Jesus and the Bible into their arguments. Please, tell me where in the Constitution of the United States it says that the Bible is the law of the land. You can't because it doesn't. The Constitution is the law of the land, and what you think the Founding Fathers intended doesn't amount to a hill of beans. I know it pains you, but non-Christians have the same rights as Christians do. Get over it.

If you find homosexual behavior to be morally reprehensible, then you are most likely heterosexual and therefore not likely to engage in homosexual behavior. Therefore, it does not concern you. Two men or two women getting married is NOT a threat to the institution of marriage, unless someone can explain how gays and lesbians getting married is going to prevent straight couples from getting married. Are you afraid that all of the good wedding planners and florists will be too busy with the homos to help you with your wedding?

Speaking of non-Christians, thank you President Bush for stating that Wicca is not a religion. Wicca is a religion, and one that is far older than Christianity. Yet the Department of Veterans Affairs does not recognize Wicca as a religion and as a result, a follower of Wicca who dies for his or her country cannot get the Pentacle on his or her military marker (Fallen Soldier's Family Wants Wiccan Marker). I have absolutely no faith that this man will ever get the honor that he -- and all members, past and present -- of the military deserve, which is a marker that reflects the faith of his choice. His family should be able to get his marker with Donald Duck on it if that is what he would have wanted. It is no one's place to tell others what is or is not acceptible. If it doesn't harm anyone else, then no one should be able to prevent it. Or can someone explain to me how having a pentacle on the gravestone of a fallen soldier can possible interfere with someone else's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

This is where we've gone wrong. We seem to have forgotten that other people have the same right to the pursuit of happiness and instead want everything to center around our own pursuits and beliefs.

On second thought, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness IS a hell of a lot, but only if we learn to let EVERYONE enjoy those rights.

Disclaimer: My opinions are my own

2006-04-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

My employer has sent out new rules, one of which is that employees are to include a disclaimer when posting to forums or blogs that the opinions posted are "not the opinions of my employer".

This was covered in a memo on use of the company equipment, so am I to assume that I can now post to this blog while I'm at work, just so long as I post the disclaimer? If so, cool. But somehow, I doubt it.

Anyway, I doubt that any of you know (or care) who my employer is, but just in case someone from the corporate office is a) reading this blog and b) actually knows who it belongs to, let me post my disclaimer:

THE OPINIONS POSTED HERE ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE! THEY ARE NOT THE OPINIONS OF MY EMPLOYER, AND MY EMPLOYER IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT IT MAY NOT MAKE ANY CLAIMS TO AGREE WITH ME ON ANY POINT WHATSOEVER REGARDING WHAT I HAVE POSTED IN MY BLOG!

Now, let them put that in their pipes and smoke it.

The Outsourcing of America Part II

2006-03-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way trying to state or imply that any of the examples given below have happened. This is purely my brain thinking of things that COULD happen in a given situation.

So I already covered how jobs are being outsourced and how it is hurting America's economy in a previous post.

Now, I bring to you some of the other possible consequences of outsourcing.

Identity theft has become a real problem in today's society. One day everything is just peachy, the next you find out that someone has bought a car in your name and skipped out on the payments and skipped town with the car. Or you apply for a home loan and find that a credit card was issued in your name, with your information, and said card has been maxed out to it's full $20,000 limit without a penny being made in payment.

Even worse, one day the cops are beating on your door and haul you off to jail. Seems someone used your identity to open a checking account, bounce checks all over the Northwestern United States, and then vanished leaving the authorities only your social security number, driver's license number and address as a clue.

You can't figure out how this could have happened, because you never give out information like your social security number unless it is a call that you initiated, you shred all of your documents before putting them into the garbage, and you keep your social security card locked up in a fire proof safe. So just how in the hell did someone get the information to steal your identity?

Think about the company's that have outsourced their customer service and data entry to foreign countries. In fact, let me give you a hypothetical situation.

You decide to refinance your home because interest rates have dropped. So you go into the bank and talk to a loan officer. After you have filled out the loan application and left, the loan officer calls a title company to open up an order for two reasons: the bank wants a title report which will show what liens and encumbrances are against the property, and an escrow account needs to be created for the funds to pass through. You don't need to understand the hows and whys of this. All you need to understand is that the bank, which has your name, address, date of birth, driver's license number, social security number, current employer, and probably other information, has now shared that information with the title company because as part of their service to the bank is verifying that you have no outstanding judgments against you, and also meeting certain requirements set forth by the Department of Justice. Most likely you will be required by the title company to fill out a statement of information in which you will be verifying your personal information.

So now the bank has your information, and the title company has your information. Of course, in this day and age, everything is put into a computer system. This means that a whole shitload of people have access to your personal information. Wait, it gets better.

You see, the people at the bank and the title company are bound by security and privacy agreements. Put plainly, their asses would be grass if they were caught using your private information illegally.

But what if either the title company or the bank have outsourced jobs? That means that someone in a foreign country is handling data for your file, but more importantly that person has access to your personal information that has been entered into the computer system.

This person could easily sell your information to another party or use it for his/her own gain. And what can you do about it? What rights do you have about how someone in a foreign country handles your personal information? Well??? Do you think that law enforcement here can do anything about it if someone in a foreign country uses your information to steal your identity? What jurisdiction do they have?

What about your credit card companies? They have all of this information, PLUS they already have your credit card information! If your credit card company has outsourced any of its jobs, I'd watch my statements very closely. Again, what can U.S. law enforcement do about someone in a foreign country that is committing these crimes against U.S. citizens?

The very worst part is that there isn't much you can do to protect yourself. If you refuse to do business with a company that has any jobs in a foreign country, forget about getting your computer hooked up or your DVD/Recorder programmed...or just about anything else that requires you call customer service.

And as an added benefit, this outsourcing is adding millions of dollars to countries where men marry so they can extort money from the brides' families and kill their wives when they can't get any more money from the in-laws.

Yep, great system we got going, this outsourcing.

If I were the President...

2006-03-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

I figure if I'm going to complain about President Bush, it's only fair that I tell you what I think I would do if I were President (because honestly, I have no idea how things work in Washington and maybe if I was the President I would see that things needed to be done differently). So here goes.

I would end all funding for programs to bring democracy to countries that do not want us to bring them democracy, such as Iran and Syria. Bush asked for $75 BILLION to bring democracy to Iran. Think of the AMERICANS that could be helped with that $75 billion (Hurricane Katrina victims, anyone?).
I would require all companies that receive government assistance or that are receiving tax breaks fill at least 50% of their jobs IN THE UNITED STATES. This percentage would go up by 2% each year to give companies time to bring American jobs back to this country from India. Companies that manufacture goods would be required to manufacture at least 50% of their product in the United States, with the same 2% per year increase.
The revenue produced by 1) the increase in taxes from companies that outsource more than 50% of their workforce 2) the increased taxes from the people that were now employed by the companies that brought their jobs back to the United States, would go directly into Social Security to start paying back the money that Reagan had no right to steal...I mean borrow...to pay for his overspending.
Stores with more than 60% of their inventory consisting of imported goods would have to pay an import tax on those imported items that they sold, thus a) increasing revenues to the government and b) encouraging business to sell American-made products. Yes, the prices would rise, but guess what? So would wages because Americans would have jobs again producing those products.
I would see about making marijuana legal to smoke, but not to sell. You want to smoke it, you gotta grow your own; it would still be illegal to be a pot dealer. I mean, get real people. With all of the shit that is out there to be worried about, LSD, crystal meth, crack, heroin, guns, gangs and AIDS, is this really that big of an issue? If you're against drugs, don't smoke it. If you're a parent and don't want your kids smoking it, be the god-damned parent and don't expect the government or society to raise your kid; it's your job to teach little Johnny right from wrong, to know where he is and who his friends are. Besides, maybe if we all kicked back with a little weed every now and then people wouldn't be so angry. We could actually see violent crime on the decline.
I would get the President of the International Olympic Committee to negotiate peace in the Middle East. If he can get North Korea and South Korea to stop bickering long enough to send one unified team to the Olympic games, I say he's got as much of a chance of getting the countries in the Middle East to get along as anyone.

I have more but it's past my bedtime. Besides, I think this is enough to start with.

Sometimes it's just overwhelming

2006-03-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

You would think that with everything that has happened in just the last week or so, this blog would be one hopping place. Yeah, right. The truth of the matter is that with so much stuff, this little kitty just couldn't decide where to begin.

So let's recap, shall we?

Dick Cheney went hunting quail and shot a 77-year old lawyer instead. After mistaking the man in the orange vest for a small bird, the Vice-President then neglected to tell anyone at the White House that he had just shot a major political contributor.
A deal was made to sell six major U.S. ports to Dubai Ports World, a state-run company of the United Arab Emirates. President Bush (according to White House Spokesman Scott McClellan) knew nothing of the deal until he heard about it in the press. Despite knowing nothing about the deal, President Bush insists that he feels he made the right decision to sell the ports to the UAE.
Video is released showing that, contrary to statements made by President Bush after Katrina hit stating that no one could have guessed that the levees would fail, President Bush was part of a meeting BEFORE Hurricane Katrina struck in which it was brought up that, among other things, there was a danger of the levees failing.

So much good stuff, so little time...

Goodbye Torino

2006-02-26T23:02:00.000-08:00

And so another Olympics has come to an end. If you aren't in the least bit interested in the Olympics, tough. This is my blog and I'll post about what I want.

I don't know why it always makes me a little sad to see the Olympic flame extinquished; perhaps because we live in a world where we may not live to see it lit again. How is it that people from all over the world can come together and live in peace for two weeks for the Olympics, but the governments of the world can manage to live in peace with one another for two hours?

Anyway, thank you Torino for sharing with us your people, your culture and your country.

Guns don't shoot people...

2006-02-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

The State of The World Address

2006-02-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

WARNING:

The following post has been rated S for Satire

It may contain content not suitable for young children, Right Wing Conservatives and the humor-impaired.

Viewer discretion is advised.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Tonight, we come together to discuss the State of the World. The world is a big, scary place. In the Middle East, specifically in Iraq, there is a new threat to the survival of mankind. That threat is the Magical Disappearing Weapons Of Mass Destruction© (patent pending). These Magical Disappearing Weapons Of Mass Destruction, or MDWOMDs, have the firepower to be launched in the Iraqi desert and destroy the United States.

What makes them so deadly and so dangerous, though, is the fact that the MDWOMDs also have the ability to disappear into thin air, leaving behind not so much as a tire track. Scientists are unsure if the MDWOMDs actually shift into another phase of reality or if they teleport directly into Syria. Efforts to uncover the secret of the MDWOMDs and to form a way to track them is made more difficult by the fact that only one person in the world has the ability to see the MDWOMDs, and that is the President of the United States.

Speaking of the President of the United States, the warrant-less wiretapping efforts there have resulted in over 5,000 American citizens having their phones tapped because they were making or receiving calls from al Queda operatives. At first glance the number seems high, but it appears that al Queda also runs the telemarketing company that always calls while you're eating dinner.

Global Warming is another important topic which we cannot ignore. President Bush has denied the existence of Global Warming, which appears to have pissed off Global Warming to the point that we are experiencing one natural disaster after another while Global Warming proves to the world that it does, in fact, exist. The strongest evidence offered up to prove Global Warming does exist comes from the fact that President Bush lost a major American city not to the threat of terrorists but to the ruthless and elusive enemy, Standing Water.

Tonight, we find ourselves dangerously close to World War III. Iran wants to remove Israel from the face of the earth and wants to restart its nuclear program, and far too many countries whose governments don't like each other already have nuclear weapons. How ironic that it now appears mostly likely that a cartoonist from Denmark, and not some military invasion or 'first strike', will be responsible for starting the chain of events that could lead to WWIII.

In closing, let me say that the current State of the World seems to be "F**ked Up Beyond Belief". Our best hope for recovery is to end the reign of the Bush administration and free the American people.

The land of the not-so-free?

2006-02-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Who would have imagined that the United States of America, the shining beacon of freedom to so many in the past who yearned for a better life, who longed to live "the American dream", would one day find itself the land of the not-so-free.

I'm referring not only to the Bush administration spying on American citizens without warrants, but to the other violations of our privacy which we just haven't found out about yet. Do you honestly think it was limited to the wiretaps that the New York Times finally reported about? (A spying program which the NY Times was well aware of prior to the 2004 elections, but which they kept the lid on AT THE REQUEST OF THE WHITE HOUSE! Can anyone say 'conspiracy'?)

Now I have no problem with the government listening to my phone calls or going through my emails. I'm certain I haven't communicated with al Queda or called upon anyone to overthrow the government. But if that is all that President Bush was interested in, why didn't he get a warrant? The only reason I can think of is because he knew that the request for a warrant would be rejected.

As I said, I don't care if the government wants to listen to my phone calls if all they are interested in is terrorist activity. But what if they also catch my conversations on the topic of the Iraq war, the budget cuts to programs for the poor and education, or the strong desire to invade Iran? I can guarantee you that my comments are not in President Bush's favor. Am I to believe that a President who secretly spies on his own people domestically and without warrants wouldn't use that kind of information to his benefit? Imagine what he could do if he could catch the right phone call or the right email that got him into the middle of a conversation between his political enemies.

Surely that kind of spying would have to be done without a warrant, wouldn't it?

According to President Bush, he didn't do anything illegal because the Constitution gives him the power to carry out domestic spying because we are at war. Now I've read the Constitution, and I can't find anywhere that it says in time of war the Constitution gets tossed out the window. The President took an oath to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution. Acting in violation of the Constitution hardly qualifies as preserving it.

Oh, and in case anyone is giving the president advice, you might want to tell him that it would have been more convincing if only the Attorney General had been sworn in for his testimony. I know that I generally don't believe what someone says if they refuse to be sworn in. Perhaps he wanted to be sure there couldn't be any perjury charges...

Adventures in Bush-isms Part II

2006-02-04T22:49:00.000-08:00

"Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better."

Considering Canada and Mexico don't actually share a border...

"The suicide bombings have increased. There's too many of them."

And just how many suicide bombings would be 'just enough?

"One of the interesting initiatives we've taken in Washington, D.C., is we've got these vampire-busting devices. A vampire is a...a cell deal you can plug in the wall to charge your cell phone."

I believe that those of us in 'reality' call that a 'charger'.

"My administration has been calling upon all the leaders in the...in the Middle East to do everything they can to stop the violence, to tell the different parties involved that peace will never happen."

Not on his watch, anyway.

"It's amazing I won. I was running against peace, prosperity, and incumbency."

Ah yes, the good old days before war, poverty and idiocy.

"For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it."

This is America, we should be aiming for 100% success!

"First, we would not accept a treaty that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country."

Nope, not having anything to do with stuff that makes sense.

"I do remain confident in Linda. She'll make a fine labor secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she's perfectly qualified."

And I base all my decisions on what the press says, because I'm the President and I don't have time to look that kind of stuff up myself.

"I'm the commander — see, I don't need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president."

Hee hee...I can tell you all to go f**k yourselves because I'm the commander, hee hee.

"People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you."

What, was Osama bin Ladin a lonely shut-in who formed a terrorist network because no one came to see him and say I love you?

"You see, the Senate wants to take away some of the powers of the administrative branch."

But I'm not going to let them because I am the all-powerful President.

"We ended the rule of one of history's worst tyrants, and in so doing, we not only freed the American people, we made our own people more secure."

???

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."

And no one has the right to terrorize himself, that's our job.

...To be continued...

Adventures in Bush-isms Part I

2006-02-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

Just because when President Bush speaks he makes me laugh, here are my favorite Bush-isms:

"If you don't stand for anything, you don't stand for anything! If you don't stand for something, you don't stand for anything!"

Following this logic, if I stand for something, I stand for anything and if I stand for anything, I stand for something. Right?

"They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program."

Well if it's not a federal program then would you please tell the federal government to stop taking so much out of my paycheck for social security?

"It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."

I have not come across any dark dungeons on the Internet, nevermind ones with children living in them. How would one live in a dark dungeon ON THE INTERNET?

"Bill wrote a book at Yale. I read one."

I'm betting there's only one book in the library at Yale that has pictures in it.

"I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial profiling, which is illiterate children."

Anyone???

"It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas."

Funny thing, most stuff that is foreign comes from overseas. Otherwise it wouldn't be foreign. It would be dom-es-tic.

"The best way to relieve families from time is to let them keep some of their own money."

Isn't that generous? The President says we get to keep some of our own money.

"I'm gonna talk about the ideal world, Chris. I've read — I understand reality. If you're asking me as the president, would I understand reality, I do."

Don't generally live there, but do understand the basic concept of reality.

"The fact that he relies on facts — says things that are not factual — are going to undermine his campaign."

That must be the logic that got us into war with Iraq.

"It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber."

Who would want to clone a Senator anyway?

"They didn't think we were a nation that could conceivably sacrifice for something greater than our self; that we were soft, that we were so self-absorbed and so materialistic that we wouldn't defend anything we believed in. My, were they wrong. They just were reading the wrong magazine or watching the wrong Springer show."

The terrorists watch Jerry Springer?

"My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times. From that alliance has come an era of peace in the Pacific."

Umm...anybody else remember a little thing called World War II?

...to be continued...

Why all the hate?

2006-01-31T17:52:00.000-08:00

I've read a lot of posts from people claiming to hate based on political views. I want to know why you would hate me because of my views?

I don't want to stop you from worshipping the way that you want; I only want the right to worship the way that I want, and to do so without you hurling insults and/or rocks at me.

I would prefer not to see homosexuals OR heterosexuals engaging in anything even remotely sexual in public; I do want the right for consenting adults to engage in whatever sexual activities they chose to so long as it is done in private.

I don't want to see abortion become a commonly accepted practice for unwanted pregnancies; if I feel that it is in my best interest to end my pregnancy, I want to have the right to do so. If it is a mortal sin, so be it. It's my body, my life and my soul, and I don't need or want your salvation.

I don't want you to stop living your life according to the morals and values that you hold dear, nor do I want your children to be taught anything that is contrary to those beliefs; I do want the right to live my life according to the morals and values that I hold dear. As long as my actions don't result in the loss of life or limb, or put anyone in harm's way physically, mentally or financially, what business is it of yours?

The next time you feel like you hate someone, ask yourself: What would Jesus do?

Yelling, screaming and hurling insults at me will only drive me farther away, but perhaps if you showed a little respect, a little compassion, if you actually talked to me, I would listen to you.

I might even agree with you.

But first you have to stop yelling at me about how much you hate me.

Ignorance, Intollerance, and You

2006-01-30T17:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, my peeps, I have uncovered a goldmine of quotes. Quotes which should leave you with no question as to why the rest of the world hates us or, at the very least, thinks that we're stupid.

Let's start with this gem from Ann Coulter:

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

If you truly feel that way, shouldn't you convert their leaders to Christianity before you kill them? Afterwards it's kind of a moot point, don't you think?

"Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of 'kill everyone who doesn't smell bad and doesn't answer to the name Mohammed'"

Oh, so that's what you call it when you say we should invade their country, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. So if that's being nice, what would you do to them if you were being 'not nice'?

Here's a nice one from former President George Bush Sr.:

"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."

Geez, do they not study history? The founding fathers did NOT include 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance. It was added because somehow 'under God' was going to make more of a distinction between us and the Soviet Union than capitalism vs. communism did. The Cold War is over. Just let it go. Say 'under God' if you want to, don't say it if you don't want to. It's that simple. Great, I got off topic and now have to find my way back...

And when did believing in God become one of the definitions of an American citizen?

From President George W. Bush:

"I don't think that witchcraft is a religion. I wish the military would rethink this decision."

No one is saying that witchcraft is a religion. Wicca is a religion, one that is far older than Christianity. Surely you aren't about to say that Hindu, Buddism and Islam aren't religions, are you?

There are more examples of the stupidity and hatred of these people at http://www.stephaniemiller.com/ezmoblog/Itemid,89/. This is what the rest of the world hears, folks ~ the condemnation and outright threats.

Of course terrorism -- no matter who the terrorists are -- is wrong. But does it help matters when the quotes above are how Christianity is being portrayed to the world?

The Outsourcing of America

2006-01-29T01:30:00.000-08:00

Tell me, when is the last time you called a company and talked to a representative that was actually in the United States?

Are you sure?

Because more and more companies are moving their customer service to India and spending millions of dollars teaching these people to speak flawless English. They even chose American-sounding names so that the customers won't suspect they are talking to someone in India (some names work better than others, of course. If you chose the name Moses Garcia, I'm talking about you.)

Outsourcing is good for the bottom line of Corporate America. The average call center employee in India makes in one day what the average citizen of India would earn in one week.

It's also what their American counterparts working that same call center job would make in one hour. It's cheap labor, and nothing else.

Outsourcing is ruining this country. We don't just outsource call center jobs; we outsource data entry, accounting, and of course manufacturing. The reason your new sweatshirt is so cheap is because it was made by a 7 year old working in a sweatshop in Mexico for 70 cents a day. Now is some kid being forced into basically slavery hurting America? Well, no. But the fact is that kid working for 70 cents a day cost American jobs. That means that there are people unemployed and unable to purchase say, a new home, car, or other items. And that means that the stores and the manufacturers lose that profit. Which means that over time, they make less and less profit.

So both the retailer and the manufacturer cut back on labor because they are losing profit. And those labor cut backs mean that even more people don't have the income to buy the stuff, which means that there are more labor cuts...and so the cyle never ends as we get stuff cheaper and cheaper but have less and less money to buy it. Because the people that lose their jobs here means that there are less home sales, less car sales...less everything sales. Which means retail jobs are lost.

You get the picture, right?

Now let's add into the equation the fact that our military tanks are made in China. Yes, that China. The ones that have threatened to nuke us. The ones that are allied with Iran. In fact, our economy is being run by China because of the amount of money our government has borrowed from them.

Nervous? Good. You should be. If not, read this article.

Not only are we sending our jobs to foreign countries, we're staking our existence on them continuing to float our loans and sell our military the things that our soliders need. The United States is now the largest exporter of raw materials and the largest importer of finished products.

Congratulations, America. You now meet the definition of a third world country.

Today's Mood: Selfish

2006-01-27T20:59:00.000-08:00

My toy! Mine! All mine!

Hijacked conversations

2006-01-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I blogged about how a conversation went from college textbooks to whether or not casinos in Las Vegas will ever be willing to stop taking bets on NBA games. Yes, I know, it boggles the mind.

So now, as promised, I will tackled yet another conversation, this time via email, that took a wrong turn and got lost.

It all started with a stupid joke. Then again, aren't most jokes that get sent via email stupid? Anyway, it was a joke that ended with a punchline about used condoms being turned into bubblegum that was shipped to France. Now bear in mind that I was not an active participant in the argument. An antogonist, perhaps, but not an actual participant.

Anyway, one of the recipients of the joke replied to the sender of the joke, and the sender called the recepient a lover of the French and hater of America because he said the joke wasn't all that funny and that he had nothing against France or its people.

So there's a discussion about France and how, to paraphrase the sender, French people act uppity and put us down unless they need us to bomb something. "Us" being America. Somewhere around this part is where I was brought into this. Not kicking and screaming, mind you; I was a willing non-participating participant who happened to agree with the receipient (hereafter referred to as "R") in his arguments against the sender (hereafter referred to as "S").

The conversation turned from WWII to weapons, specifically who was selling what to whom. That's where I got kind of lost until suddenly S brings Iraq into the dialogue. Then the debate/argument turned to whether or not we were justified invading Iraq, were things better or worse for the Iraqi people, who had better information on the subject...meanwhile, I'm sitting there thinking how the f**k did Iraq get into a conversation about used condoms being recycled into bubblegum and whether or not the joke was funny?

Pay attention in your conversations with other people and you'll probably find that it happens more often than you think. Make a casual conversation about people not making coffee when the pot is empty, and it will turn into a deep discussion on why we didn't use copy paper that was a 92 brightness all along. Mention the recent rise in gas prices and soon you'll be discussing whether ABC will put Lost on hiatus during the upcoming Olympics.

I think this is why our government gets away with so much crap, and we're shocked when we find out about it. It's because we have no attention span anymore. Case in point: Scooter Libby. Whatever happened with him? It seems like one minute we're talking about his bad-sex novel (no, I don't mean that the book is about bad sex, it's a book about sex that is very very bad...and not bad in the good kind of way) and then there's this flurry of stuff going on and suddenly everyone's attention is on whether Iran will stop and nuke Iraq on it's way to nuking Israel.

And so our conversations and our logic are subject to being hijacked, turned in a completely different direction and set on a new course in the hopes that we forget what we were originally after.

Pass the bubblegum.

And just how did we get here?

2006-01-25T22:39:00.000-08:00

Ever have a conversation and at the end wonder how in the world you got to that topic? Just for clarity, I'm referring only to those times when all parties have been sober. Conversations that took place when you or one of the other participants were drunk, stoned and/or high do not count, as when one is drunk, stoned or high one generally forgets the protocol of saying "Excuse me, but I'm going to completely change the subject now." And if you were drunk, stoned or high, you probably don't clearly remember any of the conversation anyway.

So today at work, we're minding our own business working and...stuff...when we start talking about books because one of the women is going to college and was telling and showing us a text book for a college class. That led to the topic of how there are books in some really old college libraries that are bound with human flesh. No, seriously! Okay, perhaps I should back up a bit. We started out the morning talking about how whale vomit is used to make the really expensive perfumes, so when the textbook topic came up, books bound with human flesh was just a natural topic to bring up. You know, one gross fact leads to another.

So then J (ha ha, no one will ever guess who you are!) starts talking about how he should write a book and then leave it in his Will that when he dies, he wants the book bound with his flesh. And of course how, if he did put that in his Will, his son would just assure everyone that he was smoking some good shit the day he wrote his Will.

Now the only logical place for the conversation to go at this point is...what would happen to J's body after he died? I offered to drive down I-80 with the window open and let the wind carry his ashes onto the windshield of the other vehicles. Then we discussed other places that ashes could be scattered. The State Capital, the lawn of the White House, and Arco Arena were all good choices.

Hopefully by the time J dies, there will be a new arena in Sacramento. In the same line of thought, hopefully by the time J dies, the Kings will be playing like a professional basketball team again. Anyway, J said scatter his ashes on the remains of Arco Arena, that it will probably be an office or something by then.

Which of course led to speculation about whether the Kings would get a new arena, and how Sacramento needs an arena because the acoustics at Arco suck so badly a lot of artists just skip over Sacramento on their tours. And then turned to will the Kings stay in Sacramento, or will the Maloofs move the team to Las Vegas, where the Maloofs own the Palms casino.

Which led to the question of whether or not an NBA team (or any professional sports team) could do well in Las Vegas, and if other casinos would be willing to give up betting on NBA games to get an NBA team to come to town.

In summary, we went from "College textbooks are really expensive" to "I just don't think the casinos in Las Vegas are going to give up the revenue they make from people betting on NBA games" in one conversation. Wow.

Tomorrow, I'll try to tackle how a joke about French bubblegum led to a debate about whether the war in Iraq is just or unjust. And coming up in a future blog: If you're buying a house and someone once died there of natural causes, do you really think the dead person has been waiting for you to buy the place so he/she can haunt you?

Our founding fathers must be so proud

2006-01-24T19:26:00.000-08:00

In light of all that has come out about our President spying on American citizens (call it what you want, it still amounts to spying on American citizens) I can't help but think of the words of Benjamin Franklin. Yes, the guy that went and flew a kite during a thunderstorm. Okay, so he wasn't the brightest guy around, but he still made a very true statement: "Those that would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither freedom nor security."

How do you suppose they would feel, knowing that American men and woman are in a foreign country dying to liberate those people while on American soil the government was hard at work trying to restrict the personal freedoms of Americans? What would they think of a President who feels that the Constitution should be set aside while we fight a war that was never actually declared a war? What would these men, who made it very clear that religion has no place in government, do if they had known that we would one day have an administration determined to make us all conform to the mold of Christian morality?

Since President Bush says he talks to Jesus in the Oval Office, I wonder if he's asked the question, Who would Jesus bomb?

Ignorance is alive and well

2006-01-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

First, let me begin by saying that this is NOT aimed at any one person. It is aimed at everyone who, when asked why they were so determined to argue (translation=beat a dead horse) has said "I was on the debate team in high school".

Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of people out there who like to argue about something and then claim "I was on the debate team." To this I say "BIG F***ING DEAL."

You were on the debate team in high school. Congratulations. I went to law school. Now that we've cleared up which of us has more 'education' on debating...

Welcome to the real world. Leave your silly little rules about how to debate outside. Rules on how to debate a subject are only for those who lack the passion of their convictions and therefore cannot build a good argument. In high school, you were told what side of the argument to debate. You're a grown up now, chose your own damn topic. If you really believe in it, and if your belief is based on facts, research and experience, and not just because it's what your political party of choice has told you to believe, then you'll be able to make a convincing argument. If not, you'll sound like an ignorant, closed-minded fool trying to make points on the playground.

And don't expect that you're going to change anyone's mind, because most likely you are arguing with the person BECAUSE of the passion that they have for the subject. You have as much chance of getting the other person to throw up their hands and say "You're right, what was I thinking? Oh thank you!" as you do of converting a Hindu to Catholicism. The best that you can hope for is to get the other side to agree that you have some valid points.

(BTW, no, I didn't not go on to become an attorney so yes, I am still a member of the human race)

America

2005-12-20T23:56:00.000-08:00

When I was in high school, our band teacher once said "A band is only as strong as it's weakest player, just like a chain is only as strong as its weakest link." At the time I thought "Yeah, right, whatever" but now...now, with all that has changed about America, I can truly appreciate what he was trying to tell us.

For those of you having trouble grasping it, let me offer an explanation of what it means. If you have a chain of 20 links, and 19 of those links can handle 25 pounds each but one of the links can only handle 10 pounds, the chain is only good for holding 10 pounds. Anything over that and the weak link breaks, causing the chain to fail. Thus, the chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

I think that this can be applied to a number of things going on in this country, and so I offer you the following phrases:

A people are only as free as their most oppressed citizen. Are you really, truly free? You may think you are if you're able to go to the Christian church of your choice, you can browse the internet, read newspapers, and talk to anyone in the world about any subject. Right? Well considering that President Bush has admitted to secretely wiretapping the phone of American citizens without a warrant and without ever notifying the citizens that they had been wiretapped, I'd say you aren't. Even if you weren't the victim of the government spying on its own people, the truth is that it is now a possibility for anyone of us to victimized by our government.

A country is only as safe as its most vulnerable point. With so many of our military overseas fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, with recruiting at a low point, and with so many casualties, who is going to protect us? They couldn't stop two airplanes that had been hijacked back in 2001, how are they going to stop an all out invasion? Or another, better coordinated attack (and I have no doubt that they learned from their mistakes in 2001). It is still way too easy for people to enter this country illegally. Hell, we give driver's licenses to people that we KNOW are here illegally.

Before I go, I'll leave you with one last thought: We are only as good as the worst among us.

Form your own opinions.

The truth about PETA

2005-12-18T02:49:00.000-08:00

PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) has never been one of my favorite groups. I'm semi-vegan (I do still eat eggs and cheese and occasionally drink milk although soy milk is what I use at home) for several reasons, none of which include equating killing animals for food with murder. Now, I have yet one more reason to hate them.

PETA is killing dogs and cats by the thousands. Not strays, hurt or ill animals, but going to veterinarians and animal shelters under the pretense of finding homes for the animals, then euthanizing them (watch CNN's video here: http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2005/12/17/peta.kills.pets.cnn).

Now I don't blame PETA for the actions of its employees if they are acting on their own, without PETA's consent or authority. But the reaction of PETA's president and co-founder is that what those employees did was consistent with PETA's philosophy. Since they didn't inflict pain or suffering on those poor animals, it's just fine that they killed them. It was humane, after all.

But it gets worse. PETA provides financial aid and support for ALF (Animal Liberation Front) and ELF (Earth Liberation Front). You probably know ALF and ELF by their more common names: fucking nutcases who commit arson and attempted murder because they are so much more enlightened than the rest of us. You can read all about this here: http://www.activistcash.com/organization_blackeye.cfm/oid/21.

And PETA has tax-exempt status. That's right, boys and girls, all of the money that they receive is non-taxable income. And non-taxable income means that the taxpayers have to pay more to cover the taxes that aren't collected from the tax-exempt organization. In other words, you and I, my friend, are footing the bill so that PETA can continue to fund domestic terrorists.

And if you'd like to know what motivates PETA, well you can read about that here: http://www.activistcash.com/organization_motivation.cfm/oid/21. Be warned, though, that reading the statements there may just make you see red, especially PETA President Ingrid Newkirk's comments comparing the Holocaust victims to broiler chickens, or her declaration that "I don't believe that people have the right to life." They also don't believe that dogs, cats, horses, etc. should be kept as pets, or that the blind should have seeing-eye dogs.

Well fuck you. Fuck all of you. Human beings are higher up on the food chain, and if God didn't want us to eat them He would have said so in the Bible. Nowhere in the Ten Commandments does it say 'Thou shalt be vegetarians and not eat meat or animal products.' If your belief is that God doesn't want us to eat our animal friends, please don't be offended. I'm not saying that God is for or against us eating meat. I do believe that PETA is using whatever straws it can grasp at, including trying to twist God's Word to suit their agenda.

Oh, and for you parents out there, PETA targets children as young as six years old with its graphic materials (want to see a sample? click here for the full report, including a sample of one of their 'comic book' covers, Your Mommy Kills Animals, as well as the sexually suggestive billboard PETA had posted near an elementary school: http://www.consumerfreedom.com/downloads/reference/docs/040817_petakids.pdf).

Here are some quotes from PETA:

“We feel that animals have the same rights as a retarded human child because they are equal mentally in terms of dependence on others.”
— The New York Times

Yeah, well both the animals and the retarded kid are YOUR mental superiors, PETA.

“[Eating meat] is not your personal decision, any more than, you know, whether somebody beats their child is their personal decision.”
— “Animal Rights 2002” convention

What the fuck??? People eat meat because human beings cannot survive without food. People beat their children for the same reason you burn down buildings and encourage children to become domestic terrorists, you sick bastards.

“I think [food producers] should appreciate that we’re only targeting their property. Because frankly I think it’s time to start targeting them.”
— "Conference on Organized Resistance," American University

Ever heard of "an eye for an eye"? If you dish it out, be prepared to get it back in return.

“Here’s a little model I’m going to show you here. I didn’t have any incense, but -- this is a crude incendiary device. It is a simple plastic jug, which you fill with gasoline and oil. You put in a sponge, which is soaked also in flammable liquid -- I couldn’t find an incense stick, but this represents that. You put the incense stick in here, light it, place it -- underneath the ‘weapon of mass destruction,’ light the incense stick -- sandalwood works nice -- and you destroy the profits that are brought about through animal and earth abuse. That’s about two dollars.”
— "Conference on Organized Resistance," American University

Umm...did it ever occur to you that you just gave instruction on how someone could destroy your own headquarters and homes? Talk about dumbfucks.

“We are complete press sluts.”
— Ingrid Newkirk, in The New Yorker

...among other things...

If you want more information go to http://www.petakillsanimals.com. Oh, just one more thing: PETA President Ingrid Newkirk made the statement that the world would be a better place if there were no humans.

Actions speak louder than words, Ingrid. If you truly believe that, you should be the first person to leave.

Who is the Carver?

2005-12-11T23:45:00.000-08:00

It's the biggest question in television history since "Who shot JR?"

(By the way, who did shoot JR?)

If you're a fan of Nip/Tuck, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. The identity of the Carver, who has been slicing and raping the 'beautiful' people, will be revealed in the final minutes of the season finale. Damned you, Ryan Murphy, keeping us in suspense until the last moments. Are you afraid that viewers will start tuning out once the Carver is unmasked?

Carver theories, it seems, are much like opinions and assholes: everybody's got one. If you're not a fan of the show, you should probably tune out now. For those of you that stick around and continue reading, here is my theory on the Carver.

At some point, Sean's personality fractured. He has been through a lot these last few years, after all. There was the whole thing with the child molester that ended with him and Christian feeding the child molester to the gators. There was Megan, the breast cancer survivor who ended up dead because of the breast implants that Sean gave her (no, it wasn't that he used silicone and they leaked). Julia engaged in some truly terrifying self-destructive behavior, culminating with her going through a plate glass window. Luckily, Sean and Christian fixed her up. At the end, she tells Sean "It's always been you."

Sean and Julia are now divorced. Does that give you some clue what kind of roller coaster ride this character has been on.

Sean has also learned that his son, Matt, is actually Christian's son. Seems Julia and Christian did the dirty deed right before Sean and Julia's wedding. Matt is 'acting out' and having his own issues since learning that the forbidden love of his life, Ava (who recently left town as part of a deal she made with Sean and Julia) was a post-op transsexual.

Sean leaves McNamara/Troy to be a plastic surgeon for the Witness Protection Program. He falls in love with Nikki and her son. They are in the program and Sean performed their plastic surgery, along with another doctor. Nikki and son take off, leaving Sean all alone once again.

Oops, forgot to mention that Sean dated Kimber for a while. Yes, the very same Kimber that was getting ready to marry Christian when the Carver kidnapped her. In fact, Sean caught Kimber and Christian screwing in a chair in the office.

Next post, I'll explain why everything makes sense when applied to Sean's alternate personality being the Carver.

Happy Holidays

2005-12-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

This time, I'm going to tackle something that really, really upsets me. Not that people say 'Happy Holidays'. I'm all for saying 'Happy Holidays' because it takes in everything from Halloween to Valentine's Day. Okay, not quite, but you get my point. It is all-encompassing. What is wrong with an all-encompassing greeting? It's sort of like saying 'Aloha' in Hawaii. It could mean hello, goodbye, and a few other things.

But suddenly, I'm hearing that Christmas is under attack. No, not from the Martians that kidnapped Santa Claus. Actually, I'm not sure who is supposedly attacking Christmas. Perhaps this is yet another attempt to distract the American public from what is really going on in the White House, the war in Iraq, etc. but this is ridiculous. Yes, there have been some issues regarding having nativity scenes on county and/or state property. Yes, the Ten Commandments have been removed from one courthouse. Yes, there is an effort to remove 'under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance and 'In God We Trust' from our money. Those are not, despite what some of the religious right will insist, attacks on Christianity. It's called THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. But the lesson on the U.S. Code (yes, people, the whole issue of freedom of religion and separation of Church and State is found in the United States Code, not in the Constitution) will be for another day. This post is about Christmas and how it is being attacked.

The Catholic Advocacy Group has called for a boycott of Wal-Mart because the chain as supposedly banned Christmas. Now I'm all for a boycott of Wal-Mart if it's for the right reasons. Okay, I admit it ~ I'm all for a boycott of Wal-Mart no matter what the reason. I disagree with boycotting a store just because they try to have some tolerance and understanding that not everyone that goes through their doors celebrates Christmas. When I am leaving a store, I tell the cashier/clerk/whatever 'Happy Holidays'. Don't like it? Tough. If you want to save Christmas, make Jesus Christ the focus of the season, or whatever it is that you want the season to be about, do it in your own home. Tell your family and friends to have a Merry Christmas. Tell the cashier to have a Merry Christmas. Paint "Merry Christmas" across the back window of your car.

But do not declare that Christmas and Christianity are under attack just because not everyone else says "Merry Christmas". If someone doesn't believe that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior, and that someone does not believe in celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, than having him or her wish you a Merry Christmas is worth about as much as that envelope from the Publisher's Clearing House declaring that you may just be the next big prize winner. If McDonald's decided to have all of their employees wishing customers 'Happy Kwanzaa' or Sears put 'Happy Chaunakaa' at the top of its catalog, I would understand people being upset. But 'Happy Holidays' is a nice greeting that does not offend anyone.

I still wish my friends and family a Merry Christmas. I put out the nativity in my house. Sometimes, I put up a tree and when I do, I call it a Christmas tree. If I put up lights outside, I call them Christmas lights (if I put up lights inside, I call it 'fire hazard', but that too shall be for another post). I celebrate the birth of Christ in my home and in church; I do not celebrate the birth of Christ in the mall or the retail store, nor do I expect anyone else there to. If you really believe that Christianity and Christmas are under attack, all you have do is keep them alive in your family, your home and most importantly, your own heart. So long as you know why you celebrate Christmas, what difference does it matter what the cashier in Wal-Mart says?

Peace on Earth?

2005-12-04T00:31:00.000-08:00

The answer to that question, I think, is no. We can't all just get along. We will never all get along, and the reason for that is that deep down, we believe that the universe revolves around us. I'll admit that I've acted that same way. Give me a little credit, at least I'm willing to admit it.

A perfect example of this need for everything to be all about "me" is the Christmas season. Since this is the time of year when Christians celebrate the birth of their Savior, Jesus Christ, one would expect most of the Christmas shoppers to be...well, nicer. They are, after all, celebrating the birth of the Savior, and as Christians should they be doing what Jesus taught them. Love, hope, patience, and all that stuff. Instead, they cut one another off in parking lots to get the closest space. They fight over laptop computers and DVD players. Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards men? Hah! People bitch and complain over how long they have to wait in line, and throw a hissy fit if someone might get ahead of them.

You want peace on earth? First, try negotiating peace at the shopping mall. Then move on to the bigger things.

And the next time you find yourself getting impatient and/or angry because someone cut you off, got in front of you, or is moving too slow to suit your needs, ask yourself this: Is this how your Jesus would want you to celebrate His birth? Or would He prefer that you celebrated by showing some compassion for the woman who inadvertently cuts you off because she is concentrating on getting back to the hospital with a Christmas present for her nephew, praying that he holds on until she gets there; patience for the man who suffered a stroke and can no longer get around as quickly as he once did; understanding for the wife who goes through each and every bedspread, for she is trying to find the perfect one for her parents, knowing that they won't be around much longer to enjoy such things and there may not be another Christmas to celebrate with them.

And when you've managed that, then maybe, just maybe there will be hope for Peace.

Why I love eBay

2005-11-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

You really can buy anything on eBay. Really. Granted, your chances of buying something illegal are slim because those auctions get cancelled as soon as they are discovered (no, do not test this theory out for yourself by putting your sister or your kidney up for auction), but of the things that can be legally sold within the United States...well, if someone is selling it, it's on eBay. I've bought cool things there that I could find in any store. Like the pie plate that I was finally able to get, replacing the one I broke when I was seven (sorry, Mom) or the herbs I use in soap making (okay, I admit, I was also curious as to whether the post office could tell mugwort from marijuana).

That's not the point. What was the point again? Damn it, I hate it when that happens...

Oh yes, the point was that you can buy anything on eBay. You can get your very own county jail on eBay (http://apnews.excite.com/article/20051129/D8E640E80.html). Not your very own county, unfortunately, just the jail. Why anyone would need their own jail, I don't know. Even when I was in college, none of the parties were that wild.

And if you would like your jail to be fully functional, there's the correctional officer/jail/prison guard test (http://cgi.ebay.com/CORRECTION-OFFICER-CORRECTIONAL-JAIL-PRISON-GUARD-TESTS_W0QQitemZ4592921906QQcategoryZ378QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem), the leg irons/shackles so the prisoner doesn't get away (http://cgi.ebay.com/1800s-Old-West-Prison-Jail-House-LEG-IRONS-Shackles_W0QQitemZ7728330550QQcategoryZ209QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem), the orange jumpsuit (http://cgi.ebay.com/Prison-Inmate-Jail-Uniform-Jumpsuit-orange-4XL_W0QQitemZ8357773030QQcategoryZ16119QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem), the parking sign so you always have a space (http://cgi.ebay.com/WARDEN-PARKING-prison-correctional-jail-sign_W0QQitemZ7727963334QQcategoryZ39720QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) and of course keys (http://cgi.ebay.com/Jail-or-Prison-Keys_W0QQitemZ6230216168QQcategoryZ3557QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) so you can lock your prisoner up in a cell.

Don't get me wrong, there are stupid things on eBay too. Like dog toys. The same dog toys that I can buy at PetSmart for less than what these people want for shipping and handling. Or items that you can buy for just 1 cent (that's right folks, buy it now for $0.01 per unit!), but you have to $19.99 EACH to get it shipped to you.

My personal favorite item on eBay right now is this tee-shirt - http://cgi.ebay.com/JAIL-TO-THE-CHIEF-Patriotic-T-shirt-XL-vks_W0QQitemZ8358193231QQcategoryZ15687QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem. Stuff like this shirt are the reason why I love eBay. It goes well with the county jail, don't you think?

Boycott Sony

2005-11-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

In yet another anti-customer move by the music industry, Sony put technology on their CD's which ended up royally f**king up customers computers. Read about it here.

Sony is also being sued in a class-action lawsuit because the CD's failed to disclose that software would be installed on your computer (software which, among other things, disables the CD burner, hides files from you, and leaves your computer vulnerable to hackers) if you did something like, oh say... listen to the CD with Windows Media Player. Read about that at the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/technology/22sony.html?ei=5090&en=0d3647edf65d1a92&ex=1290315600&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1132905814-qv7AXjobXQ22NIDPyG5oSA

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-23T23:06:00.000-08:00

I read an interesting question asked recently: Is Thanksgiving a Christian holiday, or is it a national holiday?

I had always considered it to be a national holiday. Yes, the pilgrims were Christians who saw the natives as the people of Satan, but that is beside the point. The first Thanksgiving was to celebrate the fact that the Wampanoag tribe had not only helped the pilgrims survive the winter, but (and most important) the fact that the Wampanoags had signed a treaty giving the land at Plymouth Rock to the pilgrims.

And if you want to know what Native Americans are thankful for on Thanksgiving Day, read this article:

http://irelandsown.net/givethanks.html

Getting things started

2005-11-22T23:50:00.000-08:00

Might as well just jump right in and let you know where I stand on things (and yes, there will be a lot of political discussion here, feel free to join in).

I support the military troops in Iraq because they were willing to sign up to defend this country, and they went where their Commander in Chief sent them, and are doing the job they were sent to do. I do not support the reason that they are there, and I believe that our troops are being put in harms way so that a few might profit from the situatation.

I believe that President Bush is NOT a good man, and he certainly is not the man to be leading this country. In short, I believe that President Bush is bad for this country.

I believe that Dick Cheney is worst.

I believe that there were never any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, at least not until someone tried to put them there and claim that Saddam was a threat.

I believe that the current administration is nothing but a bunch of hypocrites: what else do you call it when someone condemns Muslim theocracy in other countries while creating a Christian theocracy in this country?

I believe that peace in the Middle East is not possible because there will always be someone outside of the situation that will provoke the situate because it is to their benefit, at the expense of the people who actually live in the Middle East.

I believe that Rush Limbaugh made more sense before he quit the drugs.

I believe that anyone who says that terrorists should strike a particular city or state should be locked up in a mental hospital since they obviously have too few synapses firing in their brains. I mean, I think that the current administration is responsible for terrorism against America increasing, but I don't think that the terrorists should attack the White House, for God's sake.

I believe that what we are guaranteed is not freedom of religion but freedom FROM religion.

I'm not saying that I am absolutely, 100% right and everyone who disagrees is wrong. I don't know about you, but God has not yet sent me a burning bush to tell me that I am right or wrong. It is just my opinion, and like assholes, everybody's got one. You're free to post yours, and even to debate topics so long as it remains fairly civil (please, don't threaten one another with beheadings).