World of Suck

The UN has recently been pushing the US to turn over control of the internet to the UN. The idea being that they don’t trust the US to run things like the domain controllers.

Now, let me start off by saying, I don’t particularly trust the US government with control of such systems either. There have been enough odd restrictions and unusual backdoors put into things like the phone system, that I can reasonably understand their concern. Other countries worry that if they built their economies on internet business, the US will retain the ability to pull the rug out from under them. They’re worried about their national security. So is the US.

However, the simple fact of the matter is that the UN has been one of the most incompetent bodies of the past 20 years. For all of its attempts to push policy on the international community, it has looked to the US to back it up. When faced with a show down with the US, the UN backed down. When asked to manage things like oil-for-food and UNICEF, it showed gross corruption and incompetence time and time again. I mean, this is the group that put Libya on the human rights commission!

For all the good it does it the world, the UN has not demonstrated sufficient reliability to take over such an important task. The UN offers no more protection than the US from corruption, and misuse. And for all the faults of the US, its administration of the internet to this point has been fairly exemplary. I probably shouldn’t mention that the US shouldered most of the developmental costs for the project. But I will, because my money went into it.

So why should the US turn over control? There is no incentive for us to give up our security just to make the rest of the world feel better. Normally, I’m all about globalization and such things, but in the case, I don’t think it’s the right time, and I’m not sure the UN has demonstrated that it’s the right place.

A recent post I read online has opened my eyes. An ideal I once held dear, and that I believe stems from something most of our mother’s taught us, is actually a problem.

I used to follow the little teaching “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. That little mantra, I've recently noticed, is the source of a large sociological problem. The problem is that people are keeping their opinions to themselves. They never voice them except where they know they’ll be accepted.

The consequences of this are startling and obvious, though I admit to never thinking about them. If you never raise your opinion, you can never face a challenge of that opinion. So you can go about your life moving along with whatever idiotic opinion you’ve built up, never questioning, never challenging, and never revising your opinion.

I mean, if you’re too embarrassed by your opinion to say it out loud, shouldn’t that be a sign that you might be wrong? If you can’t defend it, you probably shouldn’t have it. People just sit in their little tiny happy worlds never facing the cold hard reality of the world because they just want to keep thier opinions to themselves.

I’m against people keeping their opinions to themselves. Speak up and defend it. If you can’t do that, you’re part of the problem.

There exist people in the world that need to die. Not just casually, or because of a single moment of weakness. I’m not talking murders or rapists or world leaders. They may need to die as well, but I feel a more perfect hatred for a certain subset of humanity. In fact, I daresay their actions have placed them outside the race of humans. They are subhuman sludge.

Who could these vile specimens be? Advertisers.

Oh yes. They must die. And so must all who aid them in their quest to detract from my life. The man who decided that the Burger King ‘King’ was a good idea: DEATH! The Six Flags guy: DEATH! The man who said ‘We could make the ads pop up in a separate window’: DEATH! The man who had the idea that mouse roll over ads might work: DEATH! The punk ass bitch who figured out that if you send out a million spam emails, you’ll get 50 suckers: DEATH! The Levis jeans ads that don’t ever actually show you the jeans: DEATH! I accept no substitutes!

Ads on buses. Ads in magazines. Ads on websites. Even more annoying ads in websites. Ads on TV. Ads in email. Ads ads, ads! Everywhere. I’m sick and fucking tired of ads inundating me everywhere I go.

I don’t even have a problem with relatively normal ads. But over the years they seem to have gotten dumber and dumber. They’ve gone further and further off topic. Annoying jingles, stupid characters, idiotic situations. I mean, I ask you: When was the last time a daughter asked her mom about douche while walking on the beach? Huh? HUH!? Or the last time your mailman gave you some friendly advice on cough syrup? What the fuck! Where do they come up with these ideas?

Don’t even get me started on the drug commercials. I mean, they list a random drug name. Half the time they don’t tell you what it’s for. Then they list a wide variety of side effect like anal leakage, depression, fear of heights and death. Most of the time, they’re worse then the problem they cure. It’s crazy.

Fucking advertisers. Fucking people who HELP advertisers. That’s right pal. Mr. webmaster who figured out how to do pop up ads, I’m looking at you! Death to the whole lot of you.

There are few things dumber in society then watching a movie on TV and having a character say something idiotic like “Prepare to die mother-lover” then callously murdering someone.

This isn’t limited to just cursing. I mean, we have movies where you can watch a guy get gunned down in a hail of bullets, but they won’t show a scene where two people fuck, even if it’s all under covers.

Why do censors draw the line in such a usual manner? I mean, we can’t handle things like shit and fuck, but blowing someone up is alright? We can’t deal with the thought of two people having sex, but skewering them on a sword is A-OK?

I don’t understand the methodology of censors. I mean, sex and curses have to be edited, but explosions, gun fights and fist fights are fine? I mean, there is an obvious hypocrisy there, right?

While we’re on the topic… who the fuck decides how to censor curse words? I mean, sometimes they replace them with the DUMBEST fucking phrases. Mother lover is only an example, but there are far worse ones out there. Most of the time, the substitution totally removes me from the story because it’s so obviously doesn’t fit the character or situation.

So guess what - on the ol' war on terrorism our crackdown on foreigners entering our country has been effective. We've cut down legal immigration by a respective amount, and if you're a proponent of the "shotgun" approach to weeding people out then yeah that's great. Statistically the less people you let in, the smaller the chances that you've got a terrorist in there. Dandy. Yay, lets all go home.

But.

There's always one isn't there?

Since it's now so damned hard to get into the US legally, illegal immigration has fucking SKYrocketed. Huh, didn't see that coming right? You know what else is great? Because of increased security and scrutiny in urban areas, basically where immigrants used to start out, now they're clotting together in smaller rural communities. That means that little towns are suddenly burdened with additional social, health and educational services that they just don't have the infrastructure to support. Need someone in an Emergency Room to speak Swahili in, lets say, Maine? Good freekin luck. Manhattan would be a different story.

So again, our governments slash, burn and stomp policies at the federal level (wrt immigration) have made life suck a little more for the parts of America that were unprepared. The black/white rule of law just doesn't WORK in real life - it may win votes because it's simple and easy to understand but once again, the 'hey he's stupid like me' might be comforting, but it doesn't make for a successful manager.

Rural America overwhelmingly bought into this dream during the last election, I hope they're enjoying living it now...

Well there's hardly a dull moment in politics, mainly because someone always has lots of ambition and very little patience. Right now is particularly fascinating because two sides of seemly eternal conflicts have decided on drastic changes to their established positions. This leads me to consider - precisely what happens in a tug of war when one side just lets go.

In our first case, Israel has decided to withdraw from a portion of disputed land and suddenly the Palestinans get a chunk of turf that they've said they wanted. Israel is now being lavished with praise, and even Arab countries are raising an eyebrow and giving them the time of day.

On the flip side the Palestinans, further destabilized by the sudden windfall, can't seem to decide how to manage it. Anarchy seems to be a good word however. With people flooding back and forth into Egypt, destruction of truly useful resources - like greenhouses, there seems to be virtually no real authority. Sure there's a figurehead government, but they don't appear to have any control over the men with the guns. Score: Israel 1, Palestine 0.

I'm pretty confident that even the Israelies were astonished by the magnitude of the chaos. If they wanted to firmly put the ball in the other court and the spotlight on their opponents, well Israel certainly has done that... no one is talking about Palestinan death tolls any longer.

In our second case, the IRA has decided to disarm. Poof - just like that. The inspectors involved have confirmed that the weapons are now gone, zip, lock stock and ... barrel (??they had surface to air missiles - wtf??). Again it's another Bad-boy come clean story. After the recent slamming for murders and bank robberies, IRA associates are now the ones being praised by politicians. And the Protestants? Well now that they got their wish suddenly they're the ones seeming like assholes by declaring that disarmament isn't enough and no they WON'T share, regardless of the situation. No, no, no.

So what happens when the wind is suddenly reduced from the sails of an entrenched position? It appears that unless the opponent is prepared to accept the change, and modify their position in return, the good/bad public opinion labels can be flipped in an instant. There's no question that it's hard to change, especially when you've been entrenched for so long. And there's also no question that the first to change might be motivated by deciding that giving up an inch they can grab the international spotlight and maybe a Nobel. But the question remains - if you've been tugging at what you want for so long, and if the rope suddenly lands in your lap, are you prepared to accept the consequences?

I feel much better about living in this city now that "bum burning" is in effect.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050927/NEWS01/509270410

Brown University professor Kenneth Miller, the first witness called by the plaintiffs, said pieces of the theory of evolution are subject to debate, such as where gender comes from, but told the court: ''There is no controversy within science over the core proposition of evolutionary theory.''

On the other hand, he said, ''Intelligent design is not a testable theory in any sense and as such it is not accepted by the scientific community.''

Miller also challenged the accuracy of ''Of Pandas and People'' and said it almost entirely omits any discussion of what causes extinction. If nearly all original species are extinct, he said, the intelligent design creator was not very intelligent.

from 'Intelligent Design' Court Battle Begins
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Before beginning, I'd like to extend my compliments to the JetBlue pilot last night. He did one fucking outSTANDing job of bringing in that plane, just spectacular. Mad props Buddy, Mad.

So the details are, the front landing gear of a JetBlue plane jammed sideways. The plane was carrying 140 passengers. Apparently the pilot, as I said before, and the staff did an excellent job, and landed the plane with no injuries. What I fail to understand is why precisely were they being exposed to news coverage and general panic reporting by CNN...

It seems completely counterintuitive to expose people in a potentially deadly situation to "extreme" news coverage by media agencies trying to exploit the emergency to gain attention. By most standards you want people calm, and manageable so they will listen to you, maximizing the chances they'll follow instruction and their potential for survival. Flashing up external pictures of the plane and listening to "experts" should be reason for fucking criminal charges of 'undue emotional stress'. You're trapped in a plane, you have to circle for a pretty long time to dump or burn off fuel you don't WANT someone estimating the potential death toll or remembering grisly events of other air accidents. "Yeah I feel horrible for those people TRAPPED up there. Chances are maybe HALF will live...." Omfg, stfu.

The media and telecom industries have to realize they have the potential to manage the last moments of people's lives during an accident like this. If you're in a plane, boat, bus where you have access to live media - be fucking SENSITIVE and put on information to help these people stay together and in control. Keep the cell phone lines clear so people on the planes can get through to their families. Yeah it means some coordination - but hell this didn't happen in minutes... it took a while. Support the living you fucktards, don't be buzzards trying to make a buck off their situation.

I'm sick of New York. Not the real New York, but the TV New York. It seems like half the shows on TV are set there. This isn't just a problem for "Seinfeld" and "Friends" clones with a group of sassy young friends who drink coffee and trade quips; there's also a new genre of family sitcoms set in Long Island or Brooklyn. I don't watch many dramas, but I know that plenty of crime and legal shows take place in New York also.

The problem isn't just that New York is an overused setting. It's that the writers only use the elements of the city they want. These shows will have jokes about subways and taxi drivers, but the characters live in huge beautiful apartments, and everyone's white. It's just lazy. Instead of being creative and making up a new setting, or being accurate and using a real place, they use this amalgam of big-city cliches called "New York".

The only thing lazier than writing a show set in New York is writing a show set in the greater LA or Hollywood area. Yes, TV writers, we know that's where you live. And we don't care. Try harder.

From a great story by the AP, on the group survival of 16 psychiatric or former addict patients who stuck together to survive Hurricane Katrina...

Ray: ''Coming down off crack is like the worst depression. The worst.''

Victor: ''I'm no crack addict. I'm a heroin addict.''

Mike: ''God made crack addicts so heroin addicts would have someone to make fun of.''

Full story: Katrina Kicked Off Troubled Souls' Odyssey

Abstinence only programs? I don’t understand. I grew up in the 80s. AIDS was kind of a big deal. They told everyone that if you’re going to have sex, wear a condom because it reduces your risk of both unwanted pregnancy and STD. Now, for some reason I just can’t fathom, black has become white, up has become down and condoms suddenly are bad.

Take for example, the Silver Ring Thing. Apparently it’s this huge show with a great big song and dance about how kids should abstain from sex. There is even a cute little virginity pledge thing. I’m with them that far. Nice message, right? I mean, it’s tragically flawed because teens are horny little buggers, but it’s a good idea at least. Then they go in the DANGERS of condoms. They tell kids about how condoms don’t work, and how you can still get STDs even when you use them. They don’t list a single benefit to using a condom. They only list negatives and failures.

So, how effective are programs like this? More effective than I thought actually. Research shows that the people who take the virgin pledges typically wait 18 months before having sex. That’s a good long time in a teenagers life, so that result is very good. But, there is a catch. When they finally do break down and fuck like bunnies, they don’t use protection. They’ve been taught all the negatives, so they figure there is no point. Oh, and here’s another bonus from these programs. The kids involved are more likely to have anal and oral sex instead! Which makes them every bit as likely to get an STD!!! But wait!! There is MORE! They’re less likely to tell an adult they are having sex, including people that need to know like doctors!!!

I don’t understand these programs. I mean, what the hell is wrong with promoting safe sex? I get the abstinence idea. I really do. It’s laudable. However, it's only the first step. You have to tell kids that if they do decide to have sex (and let’s be honest here… they’re going to have sex) they need to wear a condom, get on a pill, and use them properly. You have to tell them that blowjobs and anal sex count as sex, and each comes with it's own risks. You have to get them to talk to their parents about sex, not pretend it doesn't exist.

Putting on blinders is not the same as correcting the problem.

Is an idiot with a gun. And what's more dangerous than that? Well simple, multiple idiots with guns. Every time I see "celebrations" involving people firing guns into the air it's pretty clear that those celebrating shouldn't be allowed to carry weapons ever. Personally I suggest that there should be a global mandate that anyone caught firing a gun into the air should be immediately isolated, and told to repeat the same excercise with knives until the excercise is complete. It shouldn't take too long... especially if you used a space about the size of a broom closet.

One simple step to making the world a better place.

Someone call the UN, this should be implemented immediately.

Sometimes I get really sick of the news media. In general, their coverage of topics is spotty and misinformed. But my special hatred is the “It's deadly, it's in your house, and it wants to kill your children, more at 11” bullshit. Here’s a hint for those out there. If a reporter says something is going to be the end of the world as you know it, you should probably get a second opinion.

Today’s rant is the direct result of the ABC News show Primetime. They aired a segment on the avian flu. Now, don’t get me wrong. Avian flu is a very dangerous thing and something scientists continue to be concerned about. My problem is with the manner in which the segment and related article were handled.

It outlined the problem, told everyone that there was no cure or effective treatment, that it was very contagious, and could lead to the quarantine of entire districts of cities. It made some claims that the epidemic was imminent and could hit as soon as this winter. Then they throw out numbers like 200k people dead inside a few months. Then it says the US is totally unprepared, and more or less leaves the viewer with that. Basically, "We're all going to die, so umm... yeah. Thanks for watching."

First off, most of the facts stated there are on the sunny side of bullshit. Yes avian flu is dangerous, but we really don’t know a lot about it yet. We barely know how contagious it is, we don’t really know how to treat it, and we have no idea when it is expected to mutate into a form that can pass from human to human. But if you watched this segment, you’d be ready to double check your will tomorrow.

Sensationalistic fear mongering for ratings. Truly sickening.

While I’m on the topic of the news, I want to throw a side rant in here. Yahoo news has recently expanded their news feeds to include articles from the Weekly World News. For those of you unfamiliar, it’s one of those tabloid type papers that publish stories about batboy and alien babies. A few days ago, I stumbled across an article on Yahoo that told about a huge conspiracy to cover up the fact that a “Planet Dissolving Dust Cloud” will destroy the Earth in 2014. I shit you not. I couldn’t make that up to save my life. Naturally, I was confused. How could such totally BS be posted up on Yahoo News? Then I discovered the WWN source. Why on earth would any respectable news agency take up feeds from that place? It’s just going to confuse the ignorant masses. Most of them know a tabloid is bullshit. When they see it on Yahoo, it’s just going to confuse them.

Fuck the media. I remind you, these are the same dumbass fuckers who aren’t bright enough to come inside to get out of the hurricane force winds. Why do we trust them to inform the nation again?

Let me preface this rant a little by saying it's not really a rant. More of a mild concern that I feel the need to express.

I'm a private person. That is to say, I go to great lengths to keep my name off the internet. If you Google me, you'll find 2 links to a UT map I did back in 2000, and a whole bunch of links that don't have anything to do with me. When asked for name online, my most common response is Bob Marley. The few times I'm forced to give me email address, like on resumes and such things, I keep my information strictly categorized. Job info all goes to one email, gaming contacts to another, and online shopping to a third and finally correspondence with very close friends and family on another.

After high school, I cut ties with my home town and my friends there. All of them. No exceptions. I moved 80 miles away, and haven't looked back once. The reasons for this would probably make a therapist a lot of money, but they are largely irrelevant beyond the fact that I didn't exactly enjoy my high school experience.

Several years ago, my parents received a letter for me inviting me to the 5 year reunion. It went to my old home address, which was on record at the school, so I wasn't surprised or anything. However, today I received an invite to my 9 year (who the fuck had 9 year reunion anyway?) reunion. This wouldn't have bothered me if it came in the same manner, but it didn't. As you can guess from my above comments about email, I received it in email form. Not just to any account either. To my private address reserved for very close friends and family. It came from the class president. My parents didn't give it to her. And no one else who knows it would know her, nor would they give it out without my permission.

Now, I know this is the internet and things like email addies are always available. My annoyance is that somehow I fucked up somewhere along the line and that email is out there linked to my name. Very aggravating.

I commute to work. Lots of people commute. It gives you long and unwanted insight into types of people and their driving habits. The thing I've discovered is that the main cause of most accidents I see are not hyped-up younger male drivers (as the insurance industry likes to blame) it's the fucking moron driving 20mph under the average speed of the rest of the traffic.

Honestly I can't tell you how many times I've see "safe" drivers almost cause fatal accidents because people are going nuts trying to get around them. They knot of traffic and ARE the primary cause of irrational behavior in other drivers. Basically they're friction points that flash people off when they're trying to get to where they need to without unreasonable delay.

Most of these type drivers like to take up the middle lane, which is problematic. It acts like a dam, blocking up tons of drivers who now have to dodge and fight to get by.

Some of those drivers actually stay in the slow lane, which on first thought might be ok - but generally causes mayhem to people trying to merge and exit.

Gods forbid but you get a few assholes in the left lane, and then it's nothing but unadulterated anger and hostility and they get cut off over and over, and the people in the middle lane have to deal with angry swerves into their space as people try and pass.

The speeders, by comparison, are usually not an issue. They tend to be younger guys with better reflexes anyway. They make their move and get in, get out and get on without your having to twitch. These people I have no problem with.

Honestly I'd like to see the lower end of the speed limit applied and enforced as much as the upper - keep the traffic moving at more or less the same pace and we'll all get along better.

Maybe it will go away?

That seems to be the logic behind one mothers crusade. In my ongoing coverage of the “Think of the Children ™” campaign, we have this latest entry. A mother in Daytona Beach is upset at the required reading for her child’s class. Now, to preface this, the teenager is in 11th grade. Makes her 17 years old or so. Keep that in mind. She’s in the International Baccalaureate program at her high school. Basically, the really smart kids, k?

They were assigned a book written about the caste system in 1940’s India called "Cracking India". It’s a fairly autobiographical account of life in India during that period. It's critically acclaimed and thought to be very fairly provocative on many levels, if not always entirely historically accurate.

Over 4 pages, there are two passages that really bother our little censor of the year candidate. Apparently one passage talks about a girl being propositioned for a blowjob, which she refuses to give. And the other describes the characters teenage fantasies. Both are slightly graphic in nature, though neither offers anything that could be considered stimulating, particularly given their brevity.

Apparently, mother-may-I seems to think that qualifies the book as instant pr0n, and is raising a cry to have the book banned from school. Now, first off… if you really believe your 17 year old honor student hasn’t at some point figured out what a blowjob is… kill yourself because you’re a bad parent. 1 child out of billion may grow up that innocent in this day an age. In fact, doesn’t your school have sex-ed? They should have taught the kids about sex then. My school did it in 9th and 11th grade. They probably mentioned giving head at some point in there.

Secondly, it’s not like this is hardcore sex or anything. It’s 2 passages that span a total of less than four pages. Maybe you need to re-evaluate your definition of pr0n, k?

Third, it’s an INTERNATIONAL book. I know this may come a shock to your puritan family values or whatever, but the rest of the world doesn’t consider sex to be evil. In fact, many of them consider it natural and beautiful. Think about that for a second. Now, consider you’ve enrolled your child into an INTERNATIONAL Baccalaureate program at her High School. Think the two might be related?

I just don’t get this sort of thing. Banning books from schools is like drawing the blinds across your child’s eyes. I suppose some parents would like that, but you’re just crippling a child’s education for very little gain. Its crazy. You want your child to make good informed decisions? You have to let them learn. Trying to pretend sex doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away. Nor does it make it more likely that your 17 year old daughter doesn’t already know about the concept of a blowjob. Leave the books alone.

You know.... being a fat ass is not actually a handicap, at least not in the traditional sense.

Today, I went off to the store to grab some food for the week. Pulled into the parking lot and grabbed a spot about 4 or 5 spots from the front. Being the middle of the afternoon, there were ample other spots, and even a few spots closer then where I parked.

So, as I’m walking toward the store a big ass SUV pulls up and parks in the first spot reserved for handicapped parking. I just happened to notice that the lady driving didn’t seem to be handicapped. Then I noticed she didn’t have any tags for it. Not even one of those temp things for her rearview mirror.

I thought it was innocent enough. Maybe she broke her leg or something. Nope. Turns out she’s just fat. Not even grossly obese. Five foot eight inches tall… call it… 275 lbs? 250?. Something like that.

What possesses people to do that? Especially when there are 4 or 5 open parking spots that are in the first couple rows. You’re not remarkably closer. You’re just taking up the extra space given so REAL handicapped people can get their wheelchairs out. Maybe she's the Queen of the World or something. Just more special then the rest of us. Worst part about it is that she wasn't even just running in to grab something. 45 minutes later when I left, she was still parked there.

And while we’re on the topic of fat bastards, let me pose another question. How does one let oneself get so overweight that one can no longer navigate the supermarket? Because there is a woman I constantly see at the store that is grossly overweight. She has this little scooter thing that drives around with a basket on the front. She can walk. I’ve seen her walking from the store to her car. But she drives this cart around the store because (as she said when I overheard her talking to a store employee about it) it tires her out too much to walk around the entire length of the store.

Why? Why? WHY? If you can’t walk around long enough to get food without getting winded, maybe you need to lay off the food for a while. Because supermarket shopping should never EVER be a cardio workout for you.

Well we know from the projected profits that the fuel companies are actually going to make out handsomely from this disaster... at the cost of the average American consumer. Putting aside the prices at the pump - ask yourself who the other big winner is going to be from all the pain and suffering. Give up? Here's a hint: If your house has been destroyed, your job is in limbo, if you can't even return to see what you can salvage, how do you live, dress, bathe, and shelter yourself and your family?

1 word answer: Credit.

When you go on vacation you expect to wrack up some debt, but it's anticipated and you still have your clothes, toiletries, car. We're looking at familes who were evacuated in an emergency with little more than what they were wearing. They're charging up thousands of dollars of debt for housing, basic services, and all those things I listed above.

Have the credit card companies stepped up with a humanitarian response... well sort of. MBNA has waived fees on cash advances and late fees and given their clients a 2 month break before payment. Yeah that's great. It's something but it doesn't relieve the overall burden of 6 - 8 weeks of daily expenses for people whose financial income is in flux because their job was washed away.

Again, this is just dandy for the Administration because they just don't care about the average American. The people at the top are fucking sick-rich and have no concept of what it's like to balance money in against money out. Bush is still trying to dodge the bullet but I think it's struck home on the population at large. If it doesn't effect his buddies, then it's not a priority on his adgenda.

Lets call a spade a spade shall we? The numbers have proved time and again that telling kids not to screw when their homones are running full throttle is like trying to stop a train with your mind. It just isn't gonna happen. In fact a few studies have shown that kids actually screw more anally and orally as a result. Anyway, details aside - abstinance does fucking (lol) NOTHING to slow teen pregnancy, all it does is promote risky sex and misunderstanding. Well two groups are taking a new tact on the issue, read on....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two organizations that promote sex education are taking an unorthodox approach in their fight against federal funding of abstinence-only education programs.

Relying on a little-used law that allows ''affected persons'' to seek the correction of information disseminated by federal agencies, the groups said Tuesday that the abstinence education programs contain erroneous and ineffective information. They asked the Health and Human Services Department to correct it.

Facts are - people are getting money from our government to promote such shit as "Condoms are not an effective means of preventing AIDS". Ok that's wrong. Plain wrong. Still I doubt these guys are doing more than just making a splash in the AP. The sad truth is that the Bush cronie in charge of "Administration for Families and Children" recently said this about abstinence funding with a straight face in front of congress...

''They help people develop inner strength, help them take charge of their lives, and redirect their energies into healthy and productive choices,'' Horn said. ''While the evidence is still being collected, we are seeing the benefits of a strong abstinence message.''

Evidence? Bullshit. You know it, I know it and Reverend "Gimme Yo Money so I can Preach to teh kids on the Gov'ts Buck" knows it. Yeah it's a dog day for the great unwashed out there, with Uncle Sam handing out the green to every card carrying evangelist. Money + Bullshit > Truth - that's the bottom line.

It's pretty clear to me, at least that what "our" president is doing is to create a gaping chasm between the wealthy and everyone else. If you recall when our country was growing, there were railroad tycoons like the Vanderbilts, Harriman, Ames. There were industrialists like Rockefeller, mining families like Guggenheim, bankers like Morgan, Drexel and Sleigman. America has always respected it's rich and wealthy, mostly because many of them were philanthropists who gave back to their country and community. And while that divide was there, as time went on, the edges softened and there arose a middle class who became the backbone of our country.

While Bush has been quite loud about his "war on terror", only the press and the middle class have been aware of his more vindictive war. Our president has, through his policies, ensured that the rich are now set for generations and that the middle class will be saddled with more debt and less mobility than ever before (both literally and figuratively).

Besides rewarding his friends and energy industry buddies with fuckloads of money and breaks - he has tried to push the middle class back to a pre-WWII level of financial stability. In part they are to blame for their own near sightedness, and enabling him to be elected a second time. But it was clear, from his pathetically slight win, that many people had doubts.

Now he has a popularity rating of under 40%. Heinous standings for a second term president, far more so for any war president in history.

Destroying the environment, saddling the middle class with the national debt, preventing EPA regulations, promoting faith over reason and science, holding Americans in prison without charges or rights, lying to the mothers of soldiers who have died for a fraudulent war... the list goes on like a prosecutor at a war crimes tribunal.

The only real benefit is that he's quite young for the position he's in. And mark my words, he will live to see history lay bare the truth behind the mess he's made of America, her future and her reputation. The real crime will be the uncountable dollars that fatten the pockets of the rich - enabling them to keep their lock on America's future.

Saturday, I'm playing a computer RPG. (Specifically, "Sacred".) I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do next, so I go and check Gamefaqs. Turns out that I'm supposed to ask the NPC sorceress for advice, and she'll give me the next quest. Okay, fine, except for one problem. The sorceress joined my party a while ago to help out, and she was killed in a fight. Which means that it's impossible to get the next quest, and thus impossible to finish the game that I've devoted way too much time to over the last few weeks.

The thing is, the game doesn't warn you when the character dies. Most games would say "The sorceress is dead; you lose." Or, better yet, they wouldn't let the character die at all if she's important to the plot. But because the game let her die without complaining, I didn't think she mattered, I didn't reload as soon as she died. So now I have to start all over again at the beginning because of this stupid design flaw. Better yet, I won't start again; I'll just play something better.

VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

See, I've tried to avid political rants lately because they always get feathers ruffled. And for the most part, these things are ideological and unchanging. However, this is another issue I just can't stay away from.

The Federal Appeals Court has ruled that the Jose Padilla could be held for as long as the gov't wants without trial. He's a US citizen arrested inside the US. They say he's an "enemy combatant" and that he trained with al Qaeda. He's been held for 3 years now. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. I don't really know, or particularly care.

The fact of the matter is that this ruling is in DIRECT violation of the 6th amendment. And at least some portion of the 5th. He has rights as a citizen that have to be upheld. If he's a terrorist, put him on fucking trial. Why don't they? Because they know that either the evidence against him won't hold up, or they want to maintain the secrecy of the techniques involved.

OK, let’s look at case A. The case doesn’t hold up. I’m sorry. Civil liberties are a bitch that way. I’d rather have them then not and I’m willing to accept the risk. IF you think he’s guilty, get the proof. These guys aren’t brain surgeons. It shouldn’t be too hard to prove the links, arrest him and put him on trial.

Case B is that the evidence is top secret. I can respect their point here, but there are ways to deal with this. They’ve used them in the past when evidence was classified. Get a classified jury, with a classified judge and some classified lawyers and let them go at it. Maybe that means it has to be a military tribunal or some such. Whatever.

The man is a US citizen. Regardless of his crimes, he deserves a fucking trial. The Bill of Rights says we can’t deny him. Fucking Bullshit.

No, they've never screwed me.

But if you use them a lot, they will eventually screw you. Everyone knows it. The fact that people continue using their service amazes me.

The idea behind their operating concept is nice and simple, which is part of the reason for their success. You give them a credit card number, and you can use it to transfer money to someone else’s PayPal account. Thus, paying for something over the internet without needing to give out banking info.

The problem comes in when you link your credit card or bank account info to their service. You see, they act very much like a bank. They take money transfers and hold money in accounts and are very handy dandy. But they are NOT a bank. They offer nothing even close to FDIC protections on your money. They get hacked/ phished /scammed more often then practically any other site online. What do they do when they discover the false info? They can wipe out all the money out of your legitimate account to cover what ever “charges” they think you’re liable for without telling you, or any means of appeal. Or lock your account so you can’t get to your money. Or any number of other idiotic cases.

Take for example, the recent case of SomethingAwful. This website decided to take a collection up for Katrina victims. This money was to be tally up in the SA paypal account, and then given to the Red Cross. Simple right? 9 hours later, 2 things had happened. First, the SA crew donated 27 THOUSAND dollars. In nine hours. Impressive, right? Second thing that happened was that PayPal locked the fucking account because they thought the account was the victim of fraud.

What the fuck.

Fine, fine… this should be easy to fix. The owner of the account at SA, jumped through hoops to verify both his identity and the purpose of the account. He assured them that this wasn’t fraud and the money was being raised to be given to the Red Cross. Not good enough. A few more rounds of bullshit like that, and the only choice was to have the donations returned to the individuals. SA asked them to donate directly to the Red Cross.

This is one of hundreds of horror stories out of Paypal.

Paypal sucks. Everyone knows it. Never fucking use them.

Evidently in the evacuation of the hurricane stricken areas, they are trying to forcibly remove people without their pets. OK, maybe "people first", but show a little fucking compassion! What are these animals supposed to do starve and thirst to death without their caretakers. That is just plain fucking cruel to the animals. I forget who said it, but it is something to the effect that we will be judged by what we do to the least of us and what can be considered "less" than animals. Furthermore, these people stand to lose every material possession they have. The only thing they have left to give them comfort is their animal companions. I know they would have to drag me kicking a screaming without my three cats - and I would take a couple of the SOBs out in the process. Yes I feel that strongly.

And today's rant is on the topic of home schooling. Why is it stupid in 99% of the cases? Well, I'm glad you asked, but first let me lay out the 1% where I think it is acceptable.

One scenario is a hostile or violent environment. I can understand that a parent, fearing for their childs health or safety might want to home school. That seems quite fair.

Another might be the case where a school is not willing to work with the child and their parents to develop an education plan for a kid that needs extra attention. Again, that's totally fair, if the kid has physical or mental disabilites that require a sigificant amount of attention (especially where it detracts from the other kids) I can see a benefit.

But for all the other cases where it's just a "choice" on the part of the parent to isolate their kids from social influences at large... well I think that's bullshit. I suppose if you're Amish or part of an isolated religous society where you don't ever plan for your child to have a need for the social skills in the world at large, great - it's not really an issue. However most people who choose to home school don't necessarily plan for their kids to stay at home for the rest of their lives.

My take on this is that these parents are trying to prevent their children from being exposed to alternate concepts, thoughts during their most open minded years. They're hoping that by preventing exposure to their peers they can emerge - fully formed as narrowminded adults in the fashion of their parents. I would easily wager that parents that home school also tightly control everything and everyone else that their child interacts with for as long as they can.

Lately there has been an issue with home schooled kids trying to get into colleges. Colleges are requiring these kids to prove that they really know what they need to know as freshmen and home school parents are incensed. In the case I read about, the college wants the kid to take an extra class to ensure she can mange the freshmen courses she needs... and the parents (of course) want to duel it out in court. Wtf.

Step back a second here - and look at a few of the benefits of putting your kid in school. There's social skills, tons. A tremendous part of teaching kids in a pack (as humans have been doing since we settled down and discovered an agrarian society) is that they learn how to interact, tolerate, stand up to, abuse and be abused by their peers. Another is the fact that each of teachers is a skilled professional, assisted and monitored by other skilled professionals. Face it - if every home schooling Mom were a fucking genius in every damn field from kindergarden to 12 they probably wouldn't be married to relgious loonie and aspiring to baking cookies for sunday school. Yet another would be that the cirriculum is something that's reviewed by people who are again, professionals, and that cirriculum is taught in a uniform manner. There's lots of excellent reasons why public and private schools are important to the health and welfare of the kids they teach - all of which has an impact on our society, and the health of the nation.

I have met people who home schooled their kids - and in every case they're 'soo proud'. They all make the claim that their kids are now super geniuses by comparison to other kids of the same grade. The bright-eyed, squirrley fanatacism always makes me want to edge quickly away and run for the safety of bright lights. I suppose in a world where parents can make the decision to 'pray' for their kids rather than take them for the medical help they need home schooling is a far smaller evil.

Over the last couple of days, California's legislature passed a law allowing gay marriage. That makes CA the first state to have passed such a law without being forced to by a court. Now, as you may recall, the Republicans are always complaining about "activist judges legislating from the bench." Especially in the case of gay marriage. But naturally, they couldn't object to the CA legislature allowing gay marriage. Right?

Wrong! Governor Schwarzenegger has said that he's going to veto the law. Why? "In a statement, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said the governor opposes the legislation, passed Tuesday night by the California Assembly and last week by the state Senate, because he thinks the matter should be decided by California's courts or its voters."

So, when the courts say that gay marriage should be legal, the Republicans complain that judges aren't allowed to do that; it's the legislature's job. Now the legislature says that gay marriage should be legal, and Schwarzenegger complains that it's the court's job! Total bullshit. But I guess that's what happens when you elect Kindergarten Cop to run your state.

At a certain point people need to decide what's more important to them - where they live (and the society it presents) or their "religion". Case in point. Stupid bint in Florida is taking the state to court over the fact that she has to show her face on her drivers license. Well see it's simple;

IF you want to drive, then you need a license. No one says you have to drive, you can take alternate transportation. One might just point out that if the twat lived in a country that would probably let her have a license wearing a veil they probably wouldn't let her drive in the first place. Saudi Arabia bitch - try driving there.

IF your religion, on the other hand, is so all-fucking important that you have to waste the state's time and money then maybe you have to consider that you really ARE living in the wrong place. It really doesn't get any more obvious - you can't have the freedoms and safety offered by living in the US ~and simultaneously expect everyone to accommodate pre-historic moral values. Either you can drive, not be worry about being murdered for 'honor crimes', have a right to vote, own property, divorce your husband and keep your children, get an education -or- you can go live someplace where everyone else is wearing a veil in their pictures.

Of course the courts slapped her with a 'fuck-no you can't have a drivers license with a veil on' stick. Further, they pointed out that it didn't matter WHAT your freeking religion was - the rules applied to everyone. And if that wasn't enough, they also pointed out that nothing in her "religion" said she couldn't have pictures taken. I suppose if it was so fucking important to her to get a license she could make sure only to show it to other women (good damn luck there).

This isn't a first amendment rights issue - it's a "you're too stupid to be here" issue. Driving is a privilidge not a right... so get a grip woman and stop wasting time. You have to show your face for national and local security issues, that's life... take it or leave it.

So thus far we've heard very little about foreign nations offering their support to the US in the face of the Katrina disaster. A normal initial reaction would be 'WTF' since we're always there on the door of other international disasters, now it's our turn - where's our support? Turns out it wasn't that the offers weren't being made, only they weren't being ~published. As the truth has emerged, virtually everyone - even the poorest of our friends has offered at least something...

• India has a planeload of supplies waiting on the tarmac and a $5 mil check for the American Red Cross...
• Taiwan has offered $2 million right to the US directly
• South Korea has offered $30 million and 40 aid workers and 100 tons of goods such as blankets, diapers, crutches, bunk beds, wheelchair, etc.
• Japan has $200k for our Red Cross and $300,000 in supplies such as tents, blankets, generators, portable water tanks, (which are currently in Florida)
• Germany has offered dogs, medical supplies and even a medical ship
• Russia has an estimated $760,000 in aid goods on three planes which include 121 tents, 4,000 blankets and 10,000 food packages.

The list goes on and on. At least 90 countries have offered help, even the very poorest of our allies: Afghanistan - $100,000 and Bangladesh - $1million. Even China has already given us $5 million, yes past tense.

But....

Much of this aid is stranded. Tied up in red tape or refusals from our own government to accept these items, or money. Boggling isn't it? Turns out the support IS there - but our cowboy president has determined that we're just too tough to accept the help that's being offered. This information is just coming out, and it's pretty easy to understand why it has played into the administration's hands to keep it out of the press. Given the speed at which the offers were made, the planes were mobilized (planes which are STILL waiting to take off and can be here TODAY) it was not in the best image of a government still tring to find it's response with both hands.

Nations are still waiting to send their support... the question is will Bush find his balls to accept it for the people who are really in need?

Fine print on the side of the Vitech CORE install software:

WARNING: THIS PRODUCT WILL INDUCE TOURETTE'S SYNDROME

...but some people sure do have trouble with it.

What am I talking about? Peeing. No. It's not the most high brow of subjects I've ranted on, but I think it's deserving. Now, this rant will focus on the male restroom. Now, don't you ladies go feeling left out because I've heard MUCH worse stories from your side of the restroom. But without firsthand, I'm not going to rant at you :P

Explain to me why, dear god WHY... is there urine on the toilet seat?

Now, gentleman... let me ask you. How difficult is it really? Most public restrooms have between 2 and 3 urinals. Ideally, that would be the best place for a man to go relieve himself. Let's assume for a minute that they're all in use. You're forced to use on of the stalls. You still shouldn't be pissing all over the damn seats. They lift up and out of the way with minimal effort. If you're worried about germs (and the man that pisses on the seat is obviously not concerned) there is conveniently placed toilet paper or just use the toe of your shoe. Whatever you want. I really shouldn't even mention aim. I mean, by age... 15, you should really have this down to an art form. Hitting the round pot should be second nature. Missing really does say something about your learning abilities.

There shouldn't be urine on the damn seat. ever. It should never happen unless someone exploded while sitting on the can.

Why? Just.... Why?

Ok, I'm fed up. With the advent of 24 hour news channels and such things has also come the inane reporter. Apparently, back before my time, reporters asked real questions.

Today, I have seen about a dozen examples where the reporter deserves to be shot.

First up, Katie Couric. Yesterday her guest was Harry Connick Jr. Starting out with such winners as "How bad is it?" and "What'd you think when you heard it had hit?" she asked him the following series of questions: "So have you heard from all of your relatives. I know that your mother died when you were thirteen."

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

What kind of dumbass setup question is that? Yes, his mother's dead. That's unrelated to the story.

Another winner. Some dumbass reporter takes a national guardsmen aside. Apparently the guardsmen were dealing with some problem with an oil rig that collided with a bridge. The best question mustered? "How did you assess the situation?". God bless the guardsmen he responded "I assess the situation the same way as you do. That oil rig collided with the bridge."

Why are reporters that stupid? Why can't they come up with SOMETHING a little more intelligent when they report on things. Think, THEN ask. I can't even begin to list all the asinine things they ask people. A 3 year old could ask better questions.

Since it was inevitable that the nut jobs would start blaming supposed "lack of morality" on the storm, let's start placing a few bets on this one. We all know that the American race is nothing but black-hearted opportunists who revert to barbaric behavior at the first sign of trouble (ala South Park where the kids had all the adults arrested for child molestation), so how long do you think it will take before we see..

• The first lawsuit against the government for the rescue response. Be it wrongful death or simply pain and suffering, I imagine there will be plenty. I can definitely see a class action suit by the state against the feds.
• The first gas station looting/bombing. It's bound to happen. Someone is going to get pissed off enough and set a gas station on fire. I can feel it
• An honsest to goodness assasination attempt on Bush. Maybe this one is just wishful thinking. The fucker acted more quickly when hurricanes bore down on his baby brothers state of Florida last year. Don't think no one noticed, you monkey faced cock-master.

I actually hope I'm wrong about all of these, but feel free to add your own.

And it did.

That's right ladies and gents, the blame rests solely with the gays. That is why New Orleans was smote by a giant hurricane. God wanted to make a point.

An evangelical Christian group that regularly demonstrates at LGBT events is blaming gays for hurricane Katrina.

Repent America says that God "destroyed" New Orleans because of Southern Decadence, the gay festival that was to have taken place in the city over the Labor Day weekend.

"Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars" Repent America director Michael Marcavage said in a statement Wednesday.

"Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city." Marcavage said. "From ‘Girls Gone Wild’ to ‘Southern Decadence’, New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same."

These, by the way, are the same fuckheads who protested the homosexual night for Phillies fans. So, you can tell we working with real geniuses.

I mean, one would think an all powerful deity, if you believe in such things, could be a LITTLE more precise with his wanton destruction. Just from a logistical standpoint, he MISSED. And while it was close enough to flood the town, the worst of the storm didn't hit New Orleans. But he totally devastated a MASSIVE portion of the country. If we're going to blame god, can't we at least assume he's able to hit a city directly? I mean, he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Didn't seem to whack a 500 mile wide swath of destruction then. Think he forgot how to be accurate?

But assume they're right and God did this to stop a festival. Umm... overkill much? And do you really want to worship a god that intentionally hurts millions of innocents just to put a stop to a festival that hasn't happened yet, and who's attendees were not yet in town? Not exactly hitting the mark there. Maybe he got confused on the dates?

Me, I think it's a lot easy to think of God as watching us closely, but not intentionally setting up storms and shit to destroy cities. Their version is definitely not my version of God, and I'm a little frightened of anyone who takes that as their version of a all powerful deity. I'm kooky; thinking that if there is a God, he's probably benevolent. He's probably also saddened by the loss of life. Maybe that's just me.

I'm not a Chris Rock fan, but he speaks the gospel when he says there are n***as and there are black people. Case in point:

"NEW ORLEANS - National Guard troops in armored vehicles poured into New Orleans on Thursday to curb the growing lawlessness that included shots fired at helicopters airlifting people out of the Superdome and carjackings of buses helping with evacuations.

The operation to bus more than 20,000 people to the Houston Astrodome was suspended temporarily because of those reports, a spokeswoman for Harris County, where the Astrodome is located, said Thursday.

“We were told they are shooting at Chinook helicopters and the operation has been put on hold until daylight,” said Gloria Roemer.

The military helicopters are being used to take evacuees to the staging area where buses are waiting to take them to Houston. "

Ok, bad enough your ignorant, stupid ass is stealing tvs, jewelry, and other things you can't use, but now you're shooting at HELICOPTERS????! Are you kidding me?

I didn't think it would come to this, but the National Guard needs to be ordered to shoot civilians. They need to send a force in there and clear that place out. Anyone caught carrying a weapon or caught in the act of steali