BREAKING: Wind ...

T. Boone Pickens may have a problem .... Related:

Pot vs kettle

One of today's big stories is that Congress has three CEOs of major banking corporations defending their personal pay in the face of the current mortgage woes. Give that a second and consider the irony. Congress, and by that I mean "CONGRESS", has the huevos to challenge these guy's pay scale because of the market? Check the mirror in the morning much, guys? There is a reason that congressional approval is at 24%. I'm pretty sure the American people would love to see Congress give a justification of their pay in the face of our current legislative quagmire. Unlike you guys, they don't have the power to compel people to sign deal and buy houses. You guy pass laws that force our hands each day. If this is your idea of fixing the mortgage problem then a lot of people are gonna be pissed that you're wasting people's time. Oh wait, 75% of us have already expressed that.

If you don't know Rodger....

then you don't know to roll your mouse over his photos. Like this Or this

Ahem...

There is a place in sports where one has to make questionable decisions that while being contained within the legality of play are still essentially "feeble" plays. The coach of the Bills, Dick Jauron, made one of those decisions. In what has become a recent development in NFL coaching he exercised a legal maneuver to call time out just as the Cowboys took the snap for a game winning 52 yard field goal attempt. The Attempt was good, but the timeout preceded it so the Dallas kicker, Nick Folk, had to kick again. The second kick was just as good. Nick Folk, being a better man than I was simply elated and trotted off the field to congratulations. This is because he has more than likely been made away that any derogatory action towards the Bill's bench or the head coach would have been met with punishment and probably a fine. That is a decision to show class, when class was not shown to you. Me, I'm classless. So to Dick Jauron, this is for you: Sit and spin, Sir. Sit and spin.

Mexico: Why they should hate the US

The immigration battle has been tied to a lot of things. The issues of drugs, terrorism, assimilation, respect for the law and even racism have been mired to it in one fashion or another. However, there is one point I have yet to see discussed. Mexico should hate us because we steal their labor. Seriously, labor matters. Look at the effort that IRS makes to recover taxes from American workers who don't pay. Labor is the backbone of any country's economy and the US, by the sheer virtue of being better, takes Mexico's most willing workers each year. Hell, we don't even recruit. For all the talk of pride in Mexican culture, you can be damn sure that you won't hear the same crowing about the Mexican economy. Compare that to the US and then remember that they do most of their trade with us. Not to dog the efficiency but most remoras eat better when they are tied to the big shark in the pond, so Mexico is having issues. So what happens to John Q Mexico, who just wants a taste of the good life for the work that he does? Does he stay in Mexico and work to fix the system? Nope, he just comes over here, busts ass and gets paid. The American dream is still alive and well if you are willing to work and Mexico suffers from it. So if you were a nation that was governed by the inept and corrupted would you let the people most willing to work hard leave? I wouldn't, that seems like industrial suicide to me, but Mexico does. They'll all but encourage it for the sliver of left overs that Mexican ex-pats will send home. It's really kind of sad and pathetic. For us in the US, I guess we have to be a little proud because at the end of the day we know that we have it good. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants don't come here each year by mistake and in doing so they prove that the US is like the popular rich kid in school: If we want your girlfriend, all we have to do is ask and she'll drop you like a hot rock. Right, Mexico?

Bill's got a bazooka ...

A really, really big ....... gun. [...] Leo : .....And that’s the solution. Once you cut off the borders from foreign influence, everyone will realize one thing: we are Iraqi, we have to support each other. The problem does not originate in Iraq.

Ouch....That's Gotta Burn

iPhone early adapters everywhere have experienced a first rule of the mobile phone; new technologies are costly until the manufacturing company decides it isn't going to reach a particular sales goal. Analysts said quick discounts are typical for the cell-phone industry, if not the computer industry. The world's best-selling cell phone, the Motorola Razr, for instance, debuted at $499 but now can be had for less than $100. "This is about Apple learning how to become a cell-phone retailer," said Jeff Kagan, an independent telecommunications industry analyst based in Atlanta. "All of a sudden it's in the cell-phone business, and everyone is trying to figure out how to measure it, and we don't know yet." Anyone buying the iPhone that didn't expect to see the price come down quickly is a bit on the daft side. Only last year, when I bought my Motorola RAZR v3i the cost was about $399 for an unlocked version. Today the same phone sells for all of $100 on Amazon.com. What has to burn the most though, and I mean burn, is that the new iPod Touch looks just like the iPhone, so the posers can have their cake and eat it too. So much for the tech uniqueness of the iPhone, and so much for the romance. Apple announced that the iPod is the golden child, not the iPhone. A big "f-you" to the fan boys from Steve Jobs.

For your consideration...

This is George Jones This is Jim Carey And they're never in the same place at the same time.... Think about it. Has Canada been cloning?

Another reason to hate the enviromental alternitive fuel movement

I've alwyas know that the alternitve fuel crowd was full of sketchy chemistry and snake oil salesmen but now they are dealing with thier own problems: Internet driven greasy bastards. A local company has employed for many years a former Texas Ranger and a former Texas cop to track down criminals stealing a valuable substance - restaurant grease. Their job has gotten busier. The rising price of ethanol and increasing popularity of biodiesel fuel have spurred more people to take grease from traps behind restaurants to convert it to biodiesel or sell it on the black market. Cold Spring-based Griffin Industries Inc. employs former Texas Ranger Al Cuellar and former San Antonio cop Larry Findley to work with law enforcement all over the country to curb the thefts that can cost Griffin thousands of dollars each week. The company is an animal rendering and recycling company that renders restaurant grease and either sells it or manufactures it into useful substances, such as biodiesel and animal feed. The company keeps grease containers at many types of restaurants throughout the United States. Robert Griffin, president/CEO of Griffin Industries, wouldn't say how much grease thefts cost the company, but said the crime is increasing. "It has grown everywhere," Griffin said. "Many want to convert it to biodiesel. They think it is there for the taking." Grease thieves will often sneak behind restaurants at night, break the locks on containers and spill grease everywhere, said Findley, who has worked for Griffin Industries for 16 years. Thieves will often make off with 1,500 pounds of grease in one haul and sell it for between 10 and 15 cents a pound, Findley said. Texas and Oklahoma have been the hotbed of grease thieves for most of the past 20 years, Findley said. When Findley started with Griffin 16 years ago, there would be as many as 30 to 40 grease thefts in the Houston area each night. "We would make as much as six arrests in a night," Findley said. As the company and law enforcement made progress in Texas, about two years ago grease thefts started to increase elsewhere in the country, Findley said. A new type of grease thief has emerged in recent years. Average people concerned more about fuel efficiency than the street value of grease have been caught pilfering grease traps, Findley said. Biodiesel conversion kits have encouraged people to steal grease to run their car on it, he said. Many think they are entitled to the grease. "This is a recent phenomenon. These people are the worst kind of thief," Findley said. "They don't know they are stealing. The Internet is replete with how to make this stuff. They have no idea what they are doing." But these people can find themselves behind bars with serious theft charges, Findley said. The damage is both environmental and financial. "Our goal is environmental protection and neatness. Their goal is stealth and speed," Findley said. "They take grease out of containers by dipping it out. They spill the grease all over the place." The cost to restaurants and companies can be thousands of dollars, Findlay said. Few restaurants in Northern Kentucky have fallen victim so far. No members of the Northern Kentucky chapter of the Kentucky Restaurant Association have said they experienced this, said president Ted Vonden Benken. Griffin Industries is working to keep grease thieves away. "They think they can get this stuff," Findley said. "They are stealing from us. It is outright theft. They are causing an environmental risk hazard. They spill stuff all over the parking lot." A travesty, they should know better. Folks, leave the spilling of chemicals to us oil and gas types. For God's sake, we're professional we know what we're doing. (h/t mom)

For JR and Hood

World of Whorecraft star Mia Rose has been banned from World of Warcraft. Mia Rose is a hardcore gamer as well as being a pornstar, who appeared in several episodes of World of Whorecraft. Rose told the website Kotaku.com that she was banned from the World of Warcraft over the weekend after a fan recognized her and mentioned her website in a public chat area. Yeah, God knows that Blizzard needs to protect the sanctity of their gaming brand from porn stars and porn because there couldn't be any possibility of a marketing demographic crossover there. Right guys?

The American President

I totally forgot about this movie but it was on the other day and sat there watching it, laughing, at what a liberal wet dream that movie was. Here's a write up on it. As far as movies go, it has some decent dialogue but I just had to remind you of one of the money quotes from that movie. Lewis Rothschild: You have a deeper love of this country than any man I've ever known. And I want to know what it says to you that in the past seven weeks, 59% of Americans have begun to question your patriotism. President Andrew Shepherd: Look, if the people want to listen to-... Lewis Rothschild: They don't have a choice! Bob Rumson is the only one doing the talking! People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand. President Andrew Shepherd: Lewis, we've had presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference. The Hollywood perception of "political leadership", even back in 95, is that it's the projection of the perception of leadership that really matters. If they can say it loud enough and often enough then it's true, either good or ill. The emperor no longer even bothers with a tie now, because he wants that casual look with his new clothes.

Fighting the burn

Politics has me a little torched out. I'm glad I'm not in class right now because work has gotten a little weird. I have a new "above me but not my boss" person to break in. (I'm sorta the community bitch in my office.) Mostly, over all I just feel weird. SO, I'm going to post a little random. It might suck, but then you guys don't have to read it. I figure that it's better than nothing and a lot better than just wigging out. So here is a video to a song that I made out with a girl to once. I'm not sure why but it's just one of those things that sticks with you. I think it's because the girl looked a lot like Bjork and the song was Bjork. She was a really short girl, like 5'2'. For the record, I'm like 6'2". In the end we only went out twice because her dad was Thai and he didn't want his daughter to date white guys. Great plan moving to Dallas, Einstein. Here is a video of my favorite group doing what was their best song in the Early 90's. It was the song we were playing the night that we were throwing water balloons into the lowered pickups of all the "cool kids" outside of the Taco Bell. They, of course chased us, but when they are in a lowered truck and I am in a jacked up truck "terrain" is the name of the game. Not the smartest thing i ever did, but damn fun. Here is the song that I danced to the night that I went to an episcopal camp and was "the guy" to dance with at their dance. Was I a good dancer? Hell no. I'm baptist, I can't dance to save my life. But as the "baptist guy" there, I was the poor mans substitute for the "bad boy" at a church camp full of Episcopal girls who had gone to the same camp with the same guys for years. A lot of those girls felt it was their destiny to rebel against their parents by kissing "the baptist guy" at camp, so who was i to stand in the way of progress and rebellion and the like? Finally, this was the song, or at least the music, that made me wish that I played guitar. It's from the movie Crossroads. This scene is at the end where Ralph Macchio plays (actually Ry Cooder plays the guitar for his parts) against the Devil's guitarist (Steve Vai) for the soul of his friend who had traded it to the Devil way back when at the crossroads for a "mojo hand." So now, you've had a small exposure to musically odd Rob. I'll cap this with a song that I want to dedicate to all the ladies.

Cue the violins

There is an old saying that "if you lie with dogs, you get up with fleas." It's nothing new, in terms of concept. Who you run with, work with, or hang with effects you. When I was a kid, I might not have been the one acting up but it was "guilt by association." That concept doesn't stop at childhood. How many people have gotten in trouble for being by simply being with the wrong person? Now, here's a question to the business world. In specific the media but business, in general, needs to listen as well. If you cater to a demographic, are you prepared for the demographic you gear for to interface with you? CNN, I think, has discovered that dealing with their demographic is a little more taxing than they first thought. They did a series of interviews with Micheal Moore over his movie "Sicko." This isn't really a shocker because, despite the fact that I hate him, he's newsworthy because of the number of political acolytes he drags with him and his other controversial films. However, unlike other filmmakers, he got exponentially more time to discuss his topical film because of the politics that are tied to the subject. This was all well and good except that Moore locked horns with Dr Gumpta, CNN's medical guru. In all fairness, they were parsing words most of the time, but no one told the good doctor that when it comes to Moore he needs to "forget that you actually are a doctor and know what's going on and you need to let him define the narrative." Who can blame the Dr really, for challenging some of Moore's points, because unlike the media, a Dr's general search for "the truth" normally has a persons life attached to it, instead of the elevated cause of politics and making a lot of money in DVD sales. So now, Moore has gone bat shit on CNN. This, in and of it's self, isn't a tragedy. Well, at least, not for you and me. It just means they will spend less time kissing ass to Moore, right? Wrong. They gave him more airtime as they tried to appease him. The reason they have to kiss ass to Moore is that he has a great handle on the "hate Bush" crowd, a crowd that CNN appeals too in a mainstream fashion. They realize that Moore can damage them and now they have to make nice. If you don't believe me, look at this. It's CNN's letter to Moore, in which they try to kiss his ass, while parsing words in an attempt to maintain some degree of journalistic integrity. It's pathetic. CNN should know by now, if you bring attack dogs on your show, they'll probably attack something and on occasion it may very well be you. If you want to kiss up to the left, it's you choice but you better get some anti-venom because as the campaign gets closer it'll get worse, not better.

How to highly annoy your liberal professor 101

The next time you liberal professor goes on a "ChimpyBushHilterMcHalliburton" tirade, show him this: And then remind him that the people quoted here: a.) Vote Republican b.) Reproduce at a 7 to 1 ratio to his "enlightened pro-choice lesbian friends" c.) Aren't forced to "listen to his rants in this class because they don't care about their grade." This technique can lead to lower grades, but in turn you recieve amusement offsets o'plenty.

Friday's worthless news moment of the day

Consider this. John Travolta is in the new movie adaptation of "Hairspray." John Travolta is part of the highly litigeous, psuedo-religion of Scientology. Also consider that the Kevin Naff, who is affiliated with the Washington Blade has started a crap storm because he's called on gays to boycott this movie because of scientology's anti-gay sentiment. Now, why the gays decided to switch from attacking us Christians is far beyond me. People seem to be typically sympathetic to them on that and seem to generally dislike the Christian religion because it's the predominate religion in the US. In that fight they're the under dog against a religion which is pretty much supposed to "not fight back" due to thier beliefs. However, for some reason, I guess they felt their victim narrative would allow them to go after any religion in general. Meanwhile you have scientology, who will sue at the drop of a hat, but happens to be Travolta's religion of choice. So in going after Travolta, when he hasn't really aired any anti-gay sentiment you have to say is a strategic flaw. If he had gone on some anti-gay rant equivlent to the Mel Gibson meltdown, that would be one thing but here they are just going after him for his freedom of religion. They are essentially going after him for exercising his civil rights. But to really dump gasoline on it, they are only doing it to go after the scientologist who are known for launching full blown PR counter-offenses as well as lawsuits. Now, I hear that the editor of the Washington Blade is going to be on O'Rielly. That should really put out a chum slick to turn this into a full blown Xenu vs the Rainbow grudge match. All I hope is that the carnage fatally wounds both of them because the trainwreck promises to be delicious.

Wisdom from my Starbucks Cup: Because true conservatives are pessimists, they are happier than liberals, for three reasons. First, pessimists are rarely surprised. Second, when they are wrong they are delighted to be so. Third, pessimists do not put their faith in princes - in government. They understand that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. Happiness is an activity; it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness. ~ George F. Will Any thoughts? Because for me, I have to tell you, it didn't make my triple shot caramel mocha taste any different once the cup was only half full. Or should that be "half empty?"

Flipping the switch

This is on the personal side but I figure that if you guys can't handle that by now then your truly out of luck. Every once in a while, I just get in that mood and this is the result. A week or so ago I just had a meltdown on here. As far as melt downs go, I think it was my first "virtual" meltdown, so I guess that's something. This is tied to some issues in meat space, as opposed to the virtual world. Unfortuently, it's nothing really exotic or interesting because that would be blog worthy. In fact, it's normally getting buried under piles and piles of minute annoyances that makes me snap. But, for what it's worth, there is a reason that I own a sword. I earnestly wish that life was cut and dry enough that when difficulties arose you could just grab the sword off the wall and stride into battle. Sure, I accept that I might lose or that I might get maimed but I'd almost perfer it to this politically correct BS world we live in. Really, what guy dreamed about saving his wife from the dreaded "dishonest mechanic" by "talkinging harshly to the manager" and "threatening to call the better business bureau?" It's things like this that suck the soul right out of modern man. It's pathetic. So for what it's worth in this shades of grey, half assed, world of "Starbucks and sales calls" where the women try to be men because they can't find a man around, can we all agree on one thing: When I snap and go full sword swinging assault on the headquarters of a HMO corporate office, can we all agree to call me a visionary, at least in front of the kids. Seriously, who doesn't want a piece of the high dollar interviews that come with a sword swinging health care rampage? Just protect the narrative people that way my wife can make som serious grip off the movie rights.

Bingo

The Dangers of Multitasking

Digital devices pervade every aspect of our lives. Technology is all around us. From cell phones to iPods to mobile GPS devices and DVD players in our cars. We have technology at our fingertips, in front of our faces, or within hand or arm reach at all times in our lives. At work we have computers, and access to email and other applications which have been seen to improve our production because we are now able to multi-task - or so we would think. I began writing this post at 5:35 PM, and when I began, it was with the intent to see how many interruptions I could record, and how those interruptions and distractions would affect the final time of the post. Ordinarily I will work through a task only stopping to check an email when the email notification indicates that it is from someone whom I know has something important for me at that moment, otherwise, my email can generally wait for an hour or so while I work on what is at hand. In the last hour I have checked so-called "important" emails 4 times, and have responded to 3. Instant messages are a different matter. I received an IM from Hoodlumman about 20 minutes ago and it has badly distracted me. I spent at least five minutes looking at these images of Lindsay Lohan rather than getting to the point of where the inspiration for this little piece came from (Mind you, this is not all presented in the order things occurred. I have rearranged text to keep a certain point I'm making to the end. This post was outlined before it was written. Also to help with proving the point). Now, the pics didn't distract me too long from the initial viewing, but each time I think of them it adds a few moments distraction to the effort of writing this post. The point that I'm trying to make, is that in writing this post, I have been interrupted by every sort of office interruption you can imagine. From the personal call to the professional call, from the IM to the email, and this hour almost two hour process of multi-tasking has implications outside the office. Every time I have been interrupted I have had at least a few moments of trying to "remember where I was" in the process. Now, to the inspiration for this post.... I read an article in the New York Times which discussed the dangers and problems associated with multitasking. This article made me think first about the dangers from technology in my life. I am an avid motorcyclist when I am home and able to ride as often as I like, and everything from cell phones to PDAs in use by drivers in cars have become a danger to me. Consider this, from the New York Times article: Study participants were given two tasks and were asked to respond to sounds and images. The first was to press the correct key on a computer keyboard after hearing one of eight sounds. The other task was to speak the correct vowel after seeing one of eight images. The researchers said that they did not see a delay if the participants were given the tasks one at a time. But the researchers found that response to the second task was delayed by up to a second when the study participants were given the two tasks at about the same time. In many daily tasks, of course, a lost second is unimportant. But one implication of the Vanderbilt research, Mr. Marois said, is that talking on a cellphone while driving a car is dangerous. A one-second delay in response time at 60 miles an hour could be fatal, he noted. Now, consider another oddity of the modern era. I don't only place overuse of technology as a problem for cagers. I consider myself a part of the problem. I have a heavy touring motorcycle. My bike is equipped with the following gadgets that many folks wouldn't think of: 4-speaker stereo with in dash CD player (no I wouldn't consider changing CDs whild riding) CB/intercom Weather band GPS Now some might think that is too much already, but consider that the stereo can be upgraded to include Bluetooth connectivity for a cell phone and XM or Sirius satellite radio. The distractions possible just on my bike alone are every bit as dangerous as those available to the deadliest cager. Nevermind the helmet adapters that Nolan just released which include Blackberry support. I have seen all manner of activity which have the effect of making life more, not less, dangerous, from reading the newspaper while driving, using a laptop while commuting, putting on makeup, etc, and it amazes me that more of us aren't dead on the streets. The point, is that multi-tasking is dangerous, and it appears it may not make us more productive at all. And a final note: When I finished writing this post one of my employees came in to ask some questions, and I forgot that I hadn't pressed the Publish button. This post took over two hours to write and post including all of the distractions.

Remember Enron?

During the Post-Enron days they made a sardonic movie "The smartest guys in the Room." It painted the execs as a bunch of rip off artist who exploited people for their own gain. Well, we may need to make another movie. I propose that we call this on "The dumbest guy in the Room" and it can be about New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin. In the Washington Post Mayor Nagin has revealed that he has it all figured out. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has suggested that the slow recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina -- which has prevented many black former residents from returning -- is part of a plan to change the racial makeup and political leadership of his and other cities. "Ladies and gentlemen, what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere," Nagin said at a dinner sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for newspapers that target black readers. "They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community." That is by far the dumbest load of race baiting I have ever seen uttered. The irony of the fact that it was Ray "the school buses are underwater" Nagin saying it isn't lost on anyone. The disaster of New Orleans flooding was the result of shore line erosion, undersized levies, a really big hurricane and geology. For God's sake, Ray, you live on a distal flood plain! How do you think the sand your houses are on got there, if not by water driven erosion? Besides, everyone knew this was a possibility long before it happened and yet no one did anything. To criticize the response, federal or state, is something that many people are free to do. However, considering Ray was at the helm of one of the most horrific fumbles in mayoral history and he thinks the whole thing is a conspiracy, shows him to be a racist dumb ass. Of course, He wants New Orleans to be a "chocolate city" because other races are more immune to believing the BS race baiting he uses to keep office. Why, "They" are out to keep the voting blocks separated? Just who the fuck is "they?" Republicans? White People? I don't suppose he could be bothered with little things like "details" and "proof." Listen, if we had the power to steer hurricanes in order to scatter voting blocks then don't you think that we would have pounded the hell out of the east coast or California right before an election? Add to that, why would we ever go after New Orleans? It one of the few cities that if we wanted to discredit the abilities of black leadership, Ray's actually following the scripts of all the negative stereotypes. If anything, we'd leave him alone as the poster child for shitty government. He is right about one thing though; racism is alive in America. That fact is proven by the fact that a mayor like Ray can keep his job by bitching and whining and pandering to the preconceived injustice of one race, while totally neglecting that everyone in his city wasn't black. The fact that they let him keep office despite his inefficiency and stupidity because he were running against the "white boy", oh wait, Ray called him the "golden boy" didn't he, is a proof that the people in his city missed Martin Luther King's speech. Good thing for Ray that they still judged him by the color of his skin not the content of his character, because that's been found to be lacking. Ray Nagin may be truly the Dumbest man in the room for suggesting this kind of crap or maybe the people that believe it are dumber. Either way, it's sad rhetoric instead of meaningful government and very useless. Kind of like flooded buses.

Muzak

I have accepted that I'm old. I'm not "old" old yet, but I'm defiantly not young. I know this because all the college kids listen to music on their I-pods made by groups that I haven't heard of. That's a somewhat painful revelation because I used to be the guy that educated his friends to new and obscure music. I'd love to defend that I've lost my taste for that by pointing out that most of today's musicians sound like wussy, 3 chord playing bitches and that made me lose interest, but there's no way to do that and still explain that I have every Sheryl Crow CD. I like Sheryl Crow, so sue me. I do think that it's part of aging in that you get pretty good at spotting the flash in the pan groups that have one good song in a big bag of nothing and the groups that can actually pull together a meaningful grouping of songs. So as my Catharsis, I'll admit that I listen to veggie tales in the car far more than I dial up the crap that they have on the radio station now. I mean, seriously, "Chasing cars" is the kind of song that they play for insomniacs that don't respond to medication. Does anyone else want to chime in with a musical opinion or am i the only one in the blogosphere that would rather drive around listening to the combo of Johnny Cash and Rage against the Machine than listen to this "Bowling for Soup" crap. For Cullen and the Like, it's Ironic that our old people gripe will be "WHY are you listening to that crap, you can't play it loud."

Your Tuesday giggle

Over at Ace's, he has a post up that points out that most of women's relationship magazines have articles about men, and how they think, written by women. So he proposed writing his own magazine for women with article actually written by men and then asked commenters for article suggestions. Here are some of the highlights posted straight from the article it's self: "Realizing That Every Time Your Feelings Are Bruised By Somebody It Isn't A Disaster" "Every Thought I Have Doesn't Have to Be Expressed" "Letting Your Man Decompress From a Hectic Day Before Barraging Him With Every Detail of Your Day" "Do You Really Want To Do This Gay Shit With Me, Or Are You Just Being Nice?:" Learning To Accept Victory Without Demanding Your Man Join In Celebrating His Own Emasculation" "It's Your Period, Not Our Period: Menstruation Is Not A Freakin' Joint Checking Account" The Words That Come Out Of His Mouth: The Secret Source Of What A Man Is Really Trying To Tell You! Carmen Electra Posters In The Garage Does Not Mean That We Don't Love You. "Satisfy Your Man: Get Naked And Avoid The Martyr-Like Sighs. It's Not Complicated!" Why two minutes left in the 4th quarter matters more than anything you may have to say. “Women: You don't want to hear what we think. You want to hear what you think -- in a deeper voice.” You Didn't Marry a Homo: A guide to his insensitivity. "Bathroom Etiquette: If You Use My Razor To Shave Your Legs, Please Tell Me Before I Cut My Face To Hell The Next Morning" "Why he likes his mother's cooking more than yours. 10 easy steps to make every meal not take like a yak's ass." "Yes, You're Sexier Than Ever, And Yes, You'll Be Even Sexier If You Start Working Out And Dieting Like You Always Say And Get Back Down To Your College Weight: Learning That If You Keep Demanding Your Man Assert Two Mutually Contradictory Claims, He's Eventually Going To Trip Up And Tell The Truth" Bachelor Party Secrets: No. He's not fucking telling. "His Chair: Move Your Ass" "Your Friend Isn't Funny and Outrageous - She's Just Loud and Obnoxious (That's Why She's Alone)" "A Man's Guide To Dealing With Your Feelings: Bottle That Crap Up" "If It's Okay For You To Hate Your Mother, Why Isn't It Okay For Me To Hate Your Mother?" The Couch Is Heavy: Pick a spot and stick with it. "Would You Like it If We Sprayed the House with WD-40? Why Your Man Hates Potpourri" "The Fine Line: When Decoration Turns Into Clutter" Scrapbooking: Are you serious? THE STRONG SILENT TYPE: why a deaf mute may be your last, best hope. Community Art Fairs: No. No, no, no, no, no. No. The Pain Of Childbirth: Not Men's Fault Eve Picked The Apple "Would It Kill You To Wear Something Besides Sweatpants To Bed?"

They shot horses ... didn't they?

If there's any further proof you needed that you dodged a bullet in 2004 ... this is it! via Kate (and follow all her links). Just which seat on the short bus did Senator Kerry miss?

I can't even write satire this good

Tijuana police issued slingshots NO LIE. TIJUANA, Mexico - The police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers in the violent border city of Tijuana, where soldiers confiscated police weapons two weeks ago on allegations of collusion with drug traffickers. Municipal police spokesman Fernando Bojorquez said Monday that the slingshots, along with bags of ballbearings, were given to officers patrolling areas of the city visited by tourists. Tijuana’s police force of 2,000 officers has been without guns since Jan. 5, but some patrol alongside armed state police. President Felipe Calderon sent 3,300 soldiers and federal police to Tijuana at the beginning of January to hunt down drug gangs. The soldiers swept police stations and took officers’ guns for inspection amid allegations by federal investigators that a corrupt network of officers supports smugglers who traffic drugs into the U.S. The weapons are still being checked.... About 100 police demonstrated outside Tijuana town hall on Monday demanding the return of their guns. “The arms are our tools for work,” said officer Juan Manuel Nieves. “Do they want more police to be killed?” Gives a new meaning to "slinging cold steel." If they need a new logo for their badges maybe they can call this guy Update: Hezbollah calls them wussies and point out that they are fighting with "sticks, rocks and in some cases guns." They point out that the next step is to simply be armed with harsh rhetoric, UN support and Jimmy Carter's bleeding heart PR.

Some Ministers don't want Bush Library At SMU

A group of Methodist ministers from across the nation launched an online petition drive Thursday urging Southern Methodist University to stop trying to land George W. Bush's presidential library. The petition, on a newly created Web site, http://www.protectsmu.org, says that "as United Methodists, we believe that the linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate." "Methodists have a long history of social conscience, so questions about the conduct of this president are very concerning," said one of the petition's organizers, the Rev. Andrew J. Weaver of New York, who graduated from SMU's Perkins School of Theology. Inform the irony police about the "history of social conscience" because our President is, in fact, a Methodist. For bonus points, Guess where his wife went to school? Indeed, SMU. The school officials, realizing that Presidential Libraries of popular red state Presidents don't just fall out of trees, seems to be saying the proverbial "that's nice but they are giving us money, so deal with it." The project will be financed with a private fund drive aimed at raising at least $200 million. Sorry guys but private money talks and principle walks. The college's staff however has had a few professors against the thing, as well. Some SMU professors have opposed Bush's foreign policy, mainly the war in Iraq. Some faculty members also have complained that the library complex's think tank dedicated to the philosophy of the Bush administration would hurt the school's reputation. But at a faculty meeting Wednesday, SMU President R. Gerald Turner said those fears were unfounded. He said among the library's benefits were increasing the school's visibility nationwide and spurring economic development in the city. Yeah, well some professors believe that their subject is the only one that matters in life but that doesn't make it so. However, I have no doubt that some of them travel in circles so superficially liberal that the Bush library will cost them an invite to cocktail parties and the like. I have a stunning concept, that i will unveil, to help these poor, beleaguered souls keep their vaunted academic integrity. Quit. Just take your shit and leave. How much more "speaking truthiness to the power" can you get. By Jove, you'll be a regular pariah of true academia. Out of work, sure, but hey if you don't have the convictions of your action i guess that just leave you with tenure and compromise, right?

Lamb Stew!!

... with 'shrooms.

You can learn a lot...

...about a person by their bumperstickers... Read all of them . In case you can't make out those 2 outside ones... Here's the right one... And here's the left one.... I'm sure there's a lesson in there about "doubting a persons sincerity" or "intellectual consistency" but I just can't seem to put my finger on it. (h/t Hood's eagle eyes and zombietimes hard work)

Religous debates 101: Atheists are dishonest, even to themselves

When I was in college Philosophy classes there were two inevitabilities. The first was that we would be needlessly and subjectively tortured with that professors favorite Philosopher, even if his work was off topic to the discussion. The second was that within the 2nd week of class I would have to endure the attempted and repeated philosophical gang rape of every atheist in the class trying to "de-convert me" from Christianity. It was a consistent thing in each class that a group of well meaning, yet arrogant set of students would consider it a educational imperative to poke, prod, scrutinize, ridicule and cajole me over a belief in God. Think about the physical bullying that kids endure in school and consider this a kind of intellectual bullying. There was only two differences. The first being that a physical bully can hurt or damage you. In these classes I can safely say that I was in my hockey playing prime and could whip anyone in that class. That alone kept the snide remarks to a minimum. The second was that, in school, a bully's natural enemy is the teacher. Not so in college. Not hardly. In fact most prof's would set up the verbal bloodsport in their lectures just to watch the carnage. I learned that atheists are normally pack animals because they rely on the pack to fend off counters. It makes perfect sense. Faith in religion is a personal choice so defending a lack of belief in God requires a defense of a personal choice. So if you want to engage me in what I believe, my natural questions are going to deal with what you believe and, any way you cut it, it's a lot easier to defend believing in something than to defend believing in nothing. This is the reason that the individual atheists will just try to be rude and offensive in a discussion while a group will calmly engage in discussions because discussing a group disbelief is shallow due to it's variance in formation. By that I mean, it's easy for a group to dissect one frog to see why it ticks but it's harder for one man to dissect 20 frogs at the same time. This points me to the whole reason that I bring this up, Atheism has an extremely strong dishonest streak in it. By that I mean that atheists don't normally honestly believe that there is no God. Atheists have a emotionally vested interest in saying that "there is no God." There may very well be a person who is the exception to that rule but I have yet to meet them. However, I have known countless atheists that would walk across burning sand to tell a Christian that there is no God. Likewise, have you noticed that atheists hate the Christian God. How many atheists do you ever see attacking the Bahi or Islam or the Native Americans or the scientologist? I can't remember one time. I'm sure that there has to be, but let's be honest, Atheism in the US is a anti-christian movement. You think I'm blowing smoke? Check this link out. This the website for The Rational Response Squad. According to their banner they are for "Fighting the Free Humanity from the Mind Disorder that is theism." Interesting. So how divergent is their attack on the many fronts of human theism? Well ... they manage to take on Christianity and the Bible. Every other Deity? Not so much. In their fun loving mirth and merriment they have a fun contest. All you have to do is make a video of yourself "denying the Holy Spirit" and they will send you a copy of their DVD "The God who wasn't there" for Free. Why "deny the Holy Spirit?" Because silly, the Bible says in Mark 3:29 "But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." So by all means, let's make a contest out of it. Of course, you'll notice that they don't denounce their faith in Ra, Allah, The Great Spirit or Quetzalcoatl. Is that because they are any less a Deities? Nope. It's because they aren't deities that the atheists has had to deal with due to the people that believe in them living around them. As an enlightened group of great thinkers who can spot the evil of religions a mile away they can't escape their own humanity in that they only choose to spit in the eye of that which really offends them despite their justifications to the contrary. Atheist may make wonderful arguments about the role of religion causing every ill the world has seen in it's history because they consider it one of the great proofs of how religion and God are a waste of time. This point is invariably never contrasted by the same person to all the poor, orphans or downtrodden that religion has cared for. Nor do they point out the advances in science, math, language, government or philosophy driven by religion. They treat it like a salad bar and take what they like and ignore the rest. I have never met a honest atheist and I doubt that I ever will for one simple reason: You can never say that "God doesn't exist" honestly because you fail to have the means to conclusively prove it. Ontology doesn't provide the means to measure metaphysics. For that reason, any honest doubter is forced to say that there is a 99.999 X 10 to the infinite power that God does not exist but they can not close that door entirely. Just as we learned that the mineral was not the smallest level of matter, nor the atom, nor the proton due to the increases in scientific knowledge, we are unable to describe metaphysics with any accuracy because the means to quantify it do not exist to a level of certainty to justify the statement that "there is no God." In this, I submit to any person that is waged in a debate with a group of atheist, and it is normally a group because they will bring friends, make whatever arguments you wish with the understanding that they don't desire any real understanding of your beliefs. They care to understand your belief system the same way I care about a bore hole when we drill for oil, that is to say that information I can gain is used to reduce risk and aid exploitation of the resources I want. However, in the extremely rare cases when you have a debate with a atheist on your own, realize two truths: No one has ever come to God by debate, only by faith. Secondly, the best truth God has ever given you is what he has done for you personally and by sharing that there is no argument persuasive enough to prove you wrong or to prove them right. I look at those video's and I don't see brave visionaries of humanistic thought, I didn't see them in the classrooms in college either. All I saw was people that needed God and rebelled from it due to fear, anger and pride. I am no different in that except that I finally put my faith in something bigger than myself and was justified for it and I will never need to fear any argument that runs contrary to that. I pray for those people because God does love them all despite what they do. Hopefully, some day they confront the inherent dishonesty of their position and actually look to why they embrace it with such an obvious distaste for only one religion and only one God. Crossposted at Say Anything, where a pointed debate in the comments is distinctly possible...

The Goode, the bad and the Ugly

Take a moment and close your eyes to imagine this... Wait, nevermind, keep your eyes open and imagine this. (I mean if you closed your eyes you couldn't read this post.) Imagine that you have a US Representative that says the following in a letter: Thank you for your recent communication. When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped. The Ten Commandments and "In God We Trust" are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, "As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office." Thank you again for your email and thoughts. Well, imagine no more. Those are the words of Virginia Representative Virgil Goode. I think it's safe to say that wasn't just a talking point, or a cleverly calculated piece of political speech there. I think that we just saw how the Rep truly feels. Needless to say the media is going to be all over this like a bum on a ham sandwich. As the bastions of tolerance and political correctness they have impartially jumped on the story of the "islamophobic letter."I added quotes around that because that is what the boys and girls at CNN are calling it despite the fact that no one is quoted as calling it that. Of course, that's just a little even handed analysis to frame the intent of the letter, which they didn't post all of, like Foxnews did. It seems CNN is sure that we all like our news pre-chewed and pre-digested, so who are we to question their labels? I mean, it's not like we could reach that conclusion ourselves. Politically this was a pretty boneheaded move in that he could have responded to the emailer by simply saying that "while Minnesota's Representative may be swearing in on the Koran, he had no intention to follow suit. " He could have even added some statement about " not personally accepting the Koran as a moral authority by which he would swear his oath to office. " Those would have probably been OK. However, when he went into the conversation about immigration it was a poor time to try to tie illegal immigration into the conversation. That was xenophobic, if not islamaphobic. Of course, I don't need CNN to spell that out for me and aside from that I have another issue with CNN's coverage. If CNN wants to take the Rep to task for his comments then their use of CAIR's quote as a counter to Goode's position is totally out of line in that they didn't question CAIR about it's motives. Here was CAIR's comment: The Council on American-Islamic Relations asked Goode to apologize. "Rep. Goode's Islamophobic remarks send a message of intolerance that is unworthy of anyone elected to public office," the council's Corey Saylor said in a statement. "There can be no reasonable defense for such bigotry." With all due respect to CNN's reporting staff, are they unaware of CAIR's stance on Israel? Hello! Why don't they pre-chew a set of balls and ask CAIR if that statement includes "unreasonable bigotry against Jews and would they therefore stand as a beacon of tolerance and say that Israel and her people have a right to exist?" I bet that question would receive a newsworthy response but I assume that CNN has better things to do. Either way, Rep Goode has said he