Rants from loud liberals

Been a long time... I shouldn't a left you...

2008-08-27T20:06:00.003-04:00

Without a dopey post to step to...

I don't know where my passion and fire went, but somewhere between there (Kerry-Edwards) and here (Obama - Biden) it went out. Maybe marriage softened me, or a little cat and a little dog, or just being too busy to think about it, or the ever-popular what have you.

Maybe I was mad at Nancy Pelosi for not pushing for impeachment. It took being in the right frame of mind to understand why she did it: order of succession. You can't impeach Bush without impeaching Cheyney. And who's third in line? Pelosi. Even if she does have presidential ambitions, she didn't want to give the impression that she was abusing her position for personal gain. And what do we call that, boys and girls? I call it integrity. Would Hastert have done the same thing had he succeeded in removing Clinton from office, and if investigations proved that Al Gore was also guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors? You bet your sweet bippy he wouldn't.

I've been watching the Democratic National Convention this week from Denver with an anxious tingle. I think I'm finally starting to get excited again. It wasn't that Obama didn't resonate with me, and it wasn't that I was that excited a Hillary supporter. Truth be told, I loved Kucinich, but being pragmatic, I voted for John Edwards in the Florida primary. (Sidebar: thank you DNC Credentials Committee, finally counted today at the role call. Only 7 months late, but better late than never.) I guess I booted up the old blogger because I am really starting to consider the prospect that the Democrats have gotten it together. One can't ignore the powerful symbolism in having Hillary announce the vote count while yielding her delegates at the exact count where it put Barack over the top, and then called for unanimnity. Oh yeah... and picking Melissa Etheridge to sing God Bless America was a stroke of brilliance!

Since I always do what other blogs tell me to do...

2006-12-20T17:48:00.000-05:00

This meme was a direct order from Bone.
Find the nearest book.
Turn to page 123.
Go to the fifth sentence on the page.
Copy out the next three sentences and post to your blog.
Name the book and the author, and tag three more folks.

Book: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Nutri-Matic was designed and manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corportation whose complaints department now covers all of the major landmasses of the first three planets in the Sirius Tau Star system.
Arthur drank the liquid and found it reviving. He glanced up at the screens again and watched a few more hundred miles of barren grayness slide past.

I don't think I have 3 people to tag.

Dad

2006-11-10T14:52:00.000-05:00

My Dad is 59 years old. He works as an air conditioning mechanic. He's probably the smartest person I know. In 1979 he fell 4 stories off a building hhe was doing structural iron work on, which was the precipitant event for us to move to Miami. Last year he had surgery to replace a bad hip. As a boy, the nuns at St. Vincent de Paul brow-beat him to the point where he's unconvinced of his own intelligence. At 18, he did the right thing and answered the post card ordering him to report for basic training. He spent the next several years driving a supply truck through Vietnam, and was at a base in Khe San when the Tet Offensive began.

He's working today, and to my knowlege he's never taken had the second Friday in November off in his working life. Neither have any of his brethren. This dawned on me as I walked through the aisles at my local HomeDepot, and I wondered how many of their hourly employees are veterans, though the on duty employees seemed too young to have done active duty in Vietnam. I wonder how many of the people driving deliveries and laboring were duty bound in service to thieir country at one time or another, who are hard at work today. Too bad I get the day off and they have to work. No one's ever shot at me.

Happy Veterans Day, Dad.

Ok... Now what?

2006-11-09T06:46:00.000-05:00

So you won the House of Representatives and have better than a near perfect split in the Senate, assuming the independents Jeffords continues voting progressively and former-DINO Lieberman starts. Now what? Do you attack the man or his policies?

I say it has to happen in this order (if not simultaneously)
1) Eliminate the friggin patriot act so we can have our first amendment back
2) Leave "No Child Left Behind" behind. Stop punishing education and fund it.
3) Examine the present tax system to find a medium where we are actually being tax-and-spend, rather than borrow-and-spend.
4) Go back to the drawing board on election reform and force municipalities to have verifiable voting.
4) eliminate the 80K cap on Social Security. That will make it permanently solvent.
5) Re-fix Medicare again... This time for real.
Do all of this while holding oversight hearings and seeking clear evidence of high-crimes and misdemeanors.
Do all this while maintaining a delicate balance and not overreaching your power, cause '08 is coming and we need the White House back so we can finish undoing the last 6 years for real.
Good luck.

Heffelumps and Donkeys

2006-11-07T22:35:00.000-05:00

I admit it. I've spent time in my life blaming the wrong people for the anger, fear, and discomfort I felt towards myself, leading to intolerance when it was still cool to be intolerant. I cannot say that I've ever had anything in common with the belief system of the GOP. I was lucky enough to live and meet people who've done the same, and I learned that I was more afraid of myself than I was of anything that my disturbing and misshapen understanding of gay people represented. My backlash to my intolerance was to throw myself into a complete state of accepting... that everything that people do in pursuit of the BIG 3 (life, liberty, happiness...) was copecetic.

That's not to say that I've never been a registered Republican. Back in the early days of the MotorVoter, the young lady behind the counter at the DOT in North Miami asked me if I wanted to update my voter registration while changing the address on my license. She neglected to ask me my party affiliation and assumed me to be a GOP kind of guy (maybe it was the way I was dressed?) This led to an interesting position though, with Florida's closed primary system: I hold the distinct pleasure of voting against W and Jeb a combined total of 5 times, 3 times as a Republican. Counting tonight and 1992, I've been voting against the GOP for 14 years. A lot of good it's done me in this pathetic state.

I realize that the thing that the Dems are doing wrong is appealing to working people, like my wife and I. We are flat broke, and can scarcely afford to donate to the "feed-a-starving-teacher-and-his-college-student-wife fund," much less any candidate or party. The nice phone fund raiser from the DNC got a chuckle out of this and asked me to consider putting money on my credit cards, but I'm pretty sure I'm still paying off money given to the DNC and to Kerry in '04.

If Charlie Crist wins tonight, the sun will still shine tomorrow, albeit with a nasty grey haze about it. We will continue on business as usual, giving 3rd graders a test that will effect the rest of their educational lives, giving schools grades, and giving schools a pittance-like bonus that shatters the harmony of schools. Additionally, we, the idiot voters of Florida will be giving Crist the ability to revoke the class size amendment by removing majority rule, a fact we won't fully realize until we try to muster the votes necessary to revoke this amendment 3 (requiring a super-majority of at least 1 million votes to change the state constitution). Our state congress will continue to rubber stamp all of the governor's stupid policies and follow the president blindly into oblivion. We as Floridians will continue to support the wealthy corporations at the expense of ourselves. Insurance companies will run roughshod over us, raising their rates further into cost-prohibitive levels and will up and leave when the payouts get too close to their CEO's bonus thresholds.

I'm glad to be supporting the Donkey, even if I sometimes feel like a loser in the process. I'm not glad to be poor, but I'm proud to be a little guy standing up for myself.

Enough complaining. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to counting my money.

Gee. That was quick.

I Think that I shall never see....

2006-11-01T19:04:00.000-05:00

To the fuckers who decided it would be a good idea to cut down all the trees behind our condo: Fuck you Fucker. I hope you die in the most painful way possible and that all of your children and children's children are simultaneously struck blind.

The vandals will still be able to destroy property at night. Even without trees, the pool area is dark and shadowy at night.

And if they do leave that area alone, I hope they move on to your personal property.

Again, FUCK YOU ALL.

sincerely,
Baby Tiger.

Werk...

2006-09-27T22:49:00.000-04:00

I go every day and bleed out from every pore. I teach. My chosen vocation is directly connected to the future of the world. My colleagues are professionals, as hard working and dedicated as you would find in any professional environment. We truely enjoy the hands-on portion of our career and the impact we have on the world. Really, if you think about it, no other carrer would exist without teachers.

Now, however, we are embattled in a contract dispute, that starts with money and goes from there. I don't feel that I'm violating the spirit of contract negotiations by mentioning it here; if you've read before, you see this is a sounding board for things that tick me off. Lately, though, district e-mail has become everyone's sounding board. I spend no instructional time reading through peoples' rants, but I do see that my colleagues are all feeling the pinch that our current economy, coupled with our current incomes, has placed us in.

In a recent e-mail, broadcast to all users, a young lady by the name of Shawnyell Tumbling wrote the following open letter (in triplet form) to those who could ease our plight, but to date have not. It struck a chord with me and so I'm including it here:
Do you know me?
I have to know you.
From Marta to Solomon to Rudy F. Crew.

It’s a two way street,
Upon which we won’t meet,
Because you’re quite content with me under your feet.

I come and I serve,
With commitment and verve,
A profession, left dying, that I’m trying to preserve.

Do you know me?
Are you aware of my plight?
Do you think of my family as you slumber at night?

Do you know how it feels,
When you can’t pay your bills,
And you have to depend on your parents for meals?

When the car note is due,
And you haven’t a clue,
How to pay it, the insurance, and FPL, too.

Do you know me?
Are your worries like mine?
Do you feel like you’ve come to the end of your line?

When the boss doesn’t care,
Isn’t even aware,
That the job that you chose brings you pain and despair.

My Master’s Degree,
Means nothing to me,
If, with it, I still live in poverty.

Do you know me?
Can you even relate,
To the fact that I can’t afford to live in this state?

The houses are 350,000
And you deny me,
A cost of living increase?

No, you don’t know me,
It’s an obvious truth,
With you on my side,
My enemies are few.
You say you’re behind us,
But you do what you do,
I have never known supporters,
Who support like you do!

re-posted with permission

Songs and shiznit

2006-09-25T22:45:00.000-04:00

Baby Tiger bought me my first piece of Apple hardware for Christmas last year, and I've since completely rethought my whole "friends should not let friends compute with fruit" stance, going so far as to get an iMac. In Weasle terms, I'm digging the techno, bra.

Now, as is a must for anyone with more than 10 posts, I feel the oblilgatory iPod playlist coming on, in no particular order:

1) Revolution - The Beatles
(must have... or not)
2) Little Boxes - Malvina Reynolds
(the most perfect railing against suburbinzation ever, I'm glad they picked it as the theme song for Weeds.)
3) One Tin Soldier - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
(take a good song, play it with overdrive guitar at 160BPM and scream the lyrics. How can you miss?)
4) Overkill - Laslo Bane featuring Colin Hay
5) History is Made by Stupid People - The Arrogant Worms
Why must all honesty come from foreigners?
6) You - Bad Religion
Second best song ever used in a Tony Hawk video game
7) I'm Destroying the World - Guttermouth
The best song ever used in a Tony Hawk video game
8) Drunken Lullibys - Flogging Molly
9) We got the Power - Dropkick Murphys
"It's like a history lesson in a punk song..." - Baby Tiger
10) Got the Time - Joe Jackson
Prophetic? You decide.
11) Plastic Jesus - Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon
Great version!
12) Rondo a la Turk - Dave Brubeck
13) Volare - Al Martino
Gotta have one for the paisans!

Now that you've read this playlist, you've probably got opinions about my musical taste. I used to think myself eclectic in my listening prefrences, but now I realize that I just like crappy music, so long as it's not popular crappy music. So, feel free to completely ignore this.

You go Bill...

2006-09-25T22:41:00.000-04:00

I've watched, generally in utter contempt and frustration, as this "administration" has spent 6 years blaming the previous administration for everything that it has royally hozed up. It's drawn my hackles on many an occasion, but it never seemed to rattle President Teflon. Until this weekend. Bubba went off with all of the ferver that the situation required, and left Chris Wallace scratching holes in his temples.

Way to go Bill. Rest of the party? Time to show the pair you have.

Yet another reason to hate Hugo Chavez

2006-09-23T23:10:00.000-04:00

I drive a car that recommends that I use premium gas. I don't. I can't afford it. I can't afford it because very early in his reign, my president (sic) may have been an accomplice in an attempt to topple the government of Venezuela, the chair-state of OPEC, and in retaliation, Hugh Chaves' policies contributed to a gas price hike of nearly 2 dollars per gallon. Now, oil companies making record profits may also be attached to the high price of gas, but for the purpose of this post, I'm fingering Hugo.

Enter the UN. September 19, nut-job makes a speech calling Shrub "el Diablo," among many other barbs. Now liberals like Nancy Pilosi, Chuck Shulmer, and I are in a position we never wanted to be in... defending Bush.

As someone who had a visceral dislike for him long before he ran for president and someone who has voted against every Bush who has run in Florida since 1991, I wince when I rationalize this in my own mind. I still dislike W, his entire cabinet, and every decision he's made domestically and internationally since stealing office in 2000. I hate that people who had a benign dislike for me because of my birth country now feel their bile rise because of Bush; that my class (the middle) is targeted for extinction -- not at the hands of concentration camps, but due to intentionally bad economic policies, i.e. outsourcing and tax cuts; and that we are embroiled in a culture war drawn along religious lines that the president seems to endorse.

That said, he's my (gag) president, and if I want to kick him around, I will. I've earned the privilege by living here and paying the price of his stupidity. You, Mr. Chavez, were really only incovenienced by W for a few days before returning to office. If you want to say something bad about him, you should do it from your own pulpit, not from the podium that is the symbol for the spirit of international cooperation and brotherhood.

Leave it to Ask Yahoo...

2006-09-19T23:50:00.000-04:00

to answer this age old question...

Tolerance... it's not just for drinking anymore.

Crikey

2006-09-19T22:09:00.000-04:00

So, I'm sitting there on the couch in and out of conciousness, and in between naps I think I hear my wife say something to the effect of, "Steve Irwin tribute ...", perhaps she said something about a Mazda Tribute, maybe one being driven by Steve and Irwin.

"That's nice," I say as I drift back to sleep. I spend the next 20 minutes fighting slumber, catching snippets and asking myself questions like, "Why the hell is one of the Wiggles in my dream?"

I finally come to and really start watching what turns out to be the saddest thing I've seen on TV in years, Bindi Irwin reading a tribute to her deceased father (and reading amazingly well, the educator in me must point out), and it happens: here come the tears.

Get it strait, though... I've never pretended to be a tough guy when it comes to watching things. I had a helluva time watching Armegedon, and couldn't sleep for 2 weeks after watching "The Day After" (late cold-war era nuclear holocaust movie to encourage responsibility with our atomic arsenal). In fact, I think I've cried over nearly all of these movies. So there I am, bawling my eyes out over the death of someone who, most of the time, I considered a complete whack job.

A few years ago, while doing my internship, I took on a part time job driving the tram at Flaming Gardens. During my break time, I'd go watch the otters frolic; I'd oogle the bobcats pace nervously about a habitat 1/10000th the size of their natural hunting area; I'd stare at the flamingos in their pond, leg cocked restfully, desparately trying to make verbal contact with every airplane that flew overhead; I'd go watch the rescued birds of prey as they made the best of their small aviaries. Then there were the aligators. Huge. Massive. Amazing. Always still and yet seemingly never satisfied in their small pond. As I think of it now, I felt O.K. watching them because I was separated from them by the bridge that went over their waterway and by the 8-foot tall chain link fence. They scared the crap out of me. Steve Irwin would have given his eye-teeth to dive over that fence and roll round with those big blokes. Not to prove he wasn't affraid, but to show us that we shouldn't be. I take my class to Shark Valley every year, because it meshes well with the science and social studies curriculum, and because it's just way cool. While riding in the back of the trolley with my class, I'll frequently break in to a Steve Irwin accent to tell them about a gator habit that the driver skimmed over, or just as a humorous break. The kids are rapt with attention when I do, and I've found that since his death, they are all champing at the bit to talk about him.

They know more about wildlife than I ever will, and it's all because of Steve Irwin. Crikey! Well done, bloke.

Liberalism in Universities

2005-04-04T12:20:00.000-04:00

There's no doubt that most majors in most universities, especially in Florida, are taught by (gasp!) horribly liberal professors. Apparently this is a bad thing. Florida House bill 837 is out to change this abomination. The bill's purpose is to keep professors from constantly introducing controversial and/or outside material into their classrooms and thereby "indoctrinating" young, impressionable students into the professor's viewpoint. It's also supposed to keep professors from discriminating against students of differing political or religious ideology. According to my conservative professor, the real purpose of the bill is to stamp out collegiate liberalism. Of course, he thinks that is a good thing. He believes that education, most specifically education in the public university system, is the root of all the evil changes in society. Never mind that this man believes that Brown v. The Board of Education was not a good thing. He claims that there are no right or wrong answers to any questions he asks in class, his only purpose is to make us think and he wants us to leave class every week confused. I am confused. Confused as to how this man became a tenured professor.

FACTS:
1. I am a liberal democrat. My mother (who is wrong, according to my professor, for being a single mom) is a liberal democrat. My aunt (the living one) is an extremely liberal democrat. My other aunt (the dead one) was a liberal democrat. My uncles are democrats (although I don't know how liberal). My stepdad, while officially an independent, votes democrat. My grandfather was a democrat. My grandmother was not, but from what my mom says, she was open-minded for a republican. Most of my cousins are democrats. An entire family of democrats and I am only the second one to attend college. If universities are solely responsible for disseminating political ideology, how do you explain my family?

2. I attended a private Catholic school from first through eighth grades. They didn't even make an attempt to pretend that they were doing anything other than indoctrinating us not just in the doctrine of Catholism, but into republicanism. Despite that, I'm a liberal. And proud of it. Explain that.

3. My professor claims that most liberal professors are very militant in their views and will not tolerate dissenting views in their classrooms, and yet the most militant teachers I've had in my life were obviously republican. Every class where I've felt like I had no choice but to parrot the professor's ideology if I wanted a decent grade have been taught by republicans. While liberals can be as set in their beliefs and closeminded as republicans, I've yet to hear one of my liberal professors blatantly tell a student he or she was wrong solely because the student disagreed with whatever the professor said as supposedly happens all the time.

4. My professor also claims that because they learn at universities, elementary, middle and high school teachers are taking the liberal brain-washing agenda to the younger generation. Like an elementary school teacher could get away with something like that.

Whoa... Writing works. I'm not shaking with anger anymore. I gotta keep repeating "only a month left in the semester. Only a month left in the semester. Only a month left in the semester."

Well last week SUCKED.

2004-11-07T23:21:00.000-05:00

First the Hurricanes and FAU lose on Saturday of last week.
Then the Dolphins are still playing this season.
Then the election debacle of 2004.
Then my 14 year old dog dies.
Then the NHL players association sticks their collective middle finger at Gary Betman and the ownership.
Then UM and FAU lose this week.
Then the Dolphins lose.

I got a personalized e-mail from Terry McAuliffe asking me what I think went awry and what position we should take over the next four years.

I said we need to take back the discourse and re-define so that liberal, tolerant, accepting people are no longer villified, and conservatives who use morality, hatred, and bigotry to wedge people from each other.

I told him that Democrats need to call the president out and keep him honest. We need to re-assert ourselves in the media and start regaining the confidence of people nation wide, not just in those coastal areas. Really, if the Northeast and Pacific Coasts fell into the ocean right now, this country would look really right wing. We're not. But we'd look it.

We need to be a real opposition party, doing wise things like forcing the constitiution to stand up, even if it means preventing a quorum to do so. Sorry, California did not gerrymander when Dems were in control. Stop lying, Delay.

The most important thing we have to do, though, is get to the bottom of why exit polls in paper ballot precincts were on target and those in areas where electronic balloting were used (especially those manufactured by SS&H with no paper trail) were so far off. We need to work towards permanently fixing the flaws in the voting process so that no one ever feels that the election was a farce or that the process is not worth going thru. Remember, more people voted against george bush than had ever voted for any president, and only a 3 percent margin of more voters allegedly voted for w.

Also, Nader didn't take more than 1 percent of the vote anywhere, but in states where he took 1 percent, the split was 50% bush, 49% Kerry and 1% Nader. Still think Nader wasn't a factor? Why did Republicans work so hard to get him on the ballots?

ARG!

To Rosebud

2004-11-04T22:24:00.000-05:00

Only a dog can bite your feet and you'll be happy it happend.
Only a dog can make a mess on the floor and you'll gladly clean it up.
Only a dog can make you laugh as she trots across the floor with toilet paper in her mouth and a spring in her gate.
Only a dog can bring you back down to the important things, no matter how upset you are.
Only a dog will love you unconditionally and in all times and for any reason.

Goodbye, Rosebud. I will miss you.
1990-11/04/2004

Didn't know...

2004-10-18T18:31:00.000-04:00

Hey... click here for a flash movie posted on True Majority. I haven't seen much better. It's truly touching.

I really can't wait at this point for the election season to end. It gets nastier by the day and all candidates get more desparate by the hour. Please. Let us go back to the country where we're permitted to disagree. Quickly.

bin Laden watch: 12 days to capture (?)

More partisanship from me, your friendly neighborhood partisan

2004-10-13T22:49:00.000-04:00

Kerry kicked major Bush. Although it looked like they gave Georgie the good stuff tonight and the person talking in his ear was feeding him much better answers. The only true thing bush said was that Laura speaks English better than he does.

Baby Tiger thinks that the "October Suprize" will involve Cheney's ticker and Rudy Giuliani. See below for my opinion.

I do hope that the righties took note at Bush's compasion for homosexuals (won't that piss them off!) and that they noted bush's support for athiesm. How does he jive that with his right wing lunatic friends?

bin Laden Watch: 16-18 days to capture.

Whoops...

2004-10-12T21:47:00.000-04:00

I guess I'm not being all fair and balanced on the blog here... don't get me wrong: I don't think John Kerry is the Second Coming or anything (even though George Bush thinks his actions will bring on the second coming). Durring the ramp-up to "Operation Replace USSR with a new faceless menace so that all Americans live with a new fear and don't pay attention again" which you might have called "Operation Infinite Justice" or "Operation Shock and Awe", Kerry did become one of those Republi-crats, Democrats who were not standing on their anti-war convictions, but picked the most politically expediant path (that led us to war) and the repeal of many of our civil liberties. It's Ok... I expect it, because Kerry is not the most liberal member of the senate, he's actually the 11th most liberal over his whole career.

bin Laden watch: 19 days and counting until he's "captured." *
* estimates other than mine. I think he'll be "caught" a week before the election, but others that I know think they'll do to Kerry what they did to Carter and find him the day before the election. Right. The Shah of Iran was that affraid of Reagan that he released the hostages on November 1. Didn't have anything to do with George Bush being in Iran days before, did it? Nah!

Conspiracy

2004-10-12T19:37:00.000-04:00

1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.
2. A group of conspirators.
3. Law. An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.
4. A joining or acting together, as if by sinister design: a conspiracy of wind and tide that devastated coastal areas.
from www.dictionary.com

I would call what Sinclaire Broadcasting is doing conspiracy, but it doesn't fit any of the dictionary definitions. So, we must find different verbiage to describe it. Does wantonly and outrageously partisan or wishing to use their FCC licensed public airwaves to alter the outcome of a political race really have a specific word to describe it? How about lets call it the liberal media. Does showing a movie that is rife with fallacious and slanderous information generated by men who have been following John Kerry for 30+ years and consistently harassing him for being for the end of the Vietnam War sound liberal to you? I'm 30+ years old, and the only things I've done consistently for 30+ years are eating, breathing, and defecating.

If you harass someone for more than a few hours it is considered stalking. What do you call it after 30+ years? Swift Boat. There... something beyond obsession, beyond stalking, beyond harassment. We can now call it swift boat.

12 minutes... (random debate 2 comments...)

2004-10-08T21:13:00.000-04:00

For those who were wondering how long it would take shrub to bring up the "global test," it took 12 minutes.

Proposed drinking game: Every time shrub says "terrist," "nucular," or "Sadam," take a shot.

Is it me, or is bush whining? "It's not just you" - Baby Tiger.

Kerry (and the rest of the free world) thought Sadam had weapons because Bush's intentionally flawed and distorted intelligence [which could be called lies outside of politics, but apparently not inside] led us to believe it -- it was not of his own (or anyones own) volition. Lots of smart people (who knew that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that after 12 years of UN sanctions, bombings, no fly zones, etc. that Sadam had weapons of any more destructive capacity than what you can buy at your friendly neighborhood Walmart) believed Sadam had weapons because we were constantly bombarded with the message and brainwashed into believing so. Had shrub not spent months and thousands of hours lying to us, we wouldn't think Sadam had weapons.

"Kerry sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Bush sounds like a whiny bitch." - Baby Tiger.

Mr. President (?), no one is laughing at your jokes here in this debate. But the whole world is laughing at us because of you.

Is the internet now plural? Did Dick Cheney and Karl Rove create the other one?

Kerry looks at people as he answers their questions. Bush looks at everyone and won't make eye contact for more than 2 seconds.

What is more fassal?

Oh... and if Senator Kennedy is the most liberal senator, what difference does it make to John Kerry? And what's so wrong with a national health care system?

You know, with all these people asking these wonderful questions, why won't Bush answer the question? He runs around and walks around and doesn't answer anything.

Kerry is putting a boot in Bush's ass... I hear it's the American way.

What are bating green eye shades?

Increase wetlands by 3,000,000 what? Acres, inches, centimeters? The Bush plan: Eliminate the risk of forrest fires by cutting down and selling off the trees. You can't sell burnt trees, can you? Stupid is as Bush does. Air and water quality are not better, by the way.

Didn't Bush shut down most stem sell research beyond 22 lines?

Programming note: Baby Tiger is now snarling at the TV. And me.

Translation of Bush's answer: "Love the fetus, hate the child, adult, and elderly.."

Playa haters with weapons?

After watching, I can honestly say: You've got nothing, George. Your clock is up.

All you needed to see from the RNC

2004-10-04T22:36:00.000-04:00

Right here in one concise, brief, terrifying and still sadly humorous video, whose link I lifted from Atrios.
http://home.earthlink.net/~houval/gopconstrm.mov

Not that I want to prove the right right, and show that we lefties are now openly hostile, but when someone sticks a W sticker on the round rear window of a 1950's VW Beetle, the mind wanders to fond thoughts of bludgeoning.

Moment of understanding for me: When someone says "Oh, I don't like politics," what they mean is "Oh, I don't like YOUR politics." But as the Italians say, saseachisona, (spelled phonetically) which, I think roughly translates to "you're a moron for voting for the president. "

And while we're on the subject of morons, Nader supporters, you really need to pull your heads out of your sphincters and get with the program. He's not going to win, and by voting for him, you are actually voting for w. By not voting for the candidate with the real chance to win, you're voting for the guy who stole the last election. You think you are sending a message. Do you know what message you send? "Yeah, me and the 2000 other like minded fools in this state are wasting the votes that could have lead to regime change, and so, we are becoming further irrelevant." While no citizen is irrelevant, those who waste their vote are as close to irrelevant as those who don't vote at all. You really like Nader and think he stands for what you stand for? Ask him why he took millions in contribution money from Republicans to get on ballots in most states, and why, even though he knows he doesn't stand a farts chance in a windstorm of winning, he insists on playing spoiler for the Republicans.

Desparation

2004-10-01T22:24:00.000-04:00

The desparation hackles are rising in the Republican ranks... they are actually running adds attacking John Kerry for windsurfing. Come on, it's a fricking hobby. "Unless your hobby is molesting children or poking the elderly, with like your finger, or sticks, stop signs, or alligator... shoes, attacking someone's hobby is a sign that 'you got nothin'." - Baby Tiger

Quite honestly, I'd like a president who spends his leisure time decompressing, and not figuring out ways to empty the treasury, send countries into civil war, and make his friends billions. And to the brain-dead fools who [in a Sports Illustrated poll] voted that Bush (who runs and lifts weights) is more athletic than Kerry, who windsurfs, snowboards, runs, plays hockey, bicycles, mountain bikes, trapeezes, climbs mountains, yodels, and plays tournament bridge, what the hell were you thinking?

Victory...

2004-09-30T23:56:00.000-04:00

Has been declared by Republicans in the debate. I suppose this can be taken from the fact that the prez did not drool on himself noticeably in the course of debate. Perhaps we can also infer this because there were no obvious signs of the loss of excretory function. The President did not erupt into a screaming curse filled tirade with the cameras on him. See? He won.

Reality Check: John Kerry kicked ass. He had a message. He stuck to the message. He was able to elaborate. He was able to get off topic, speak to the issues, and get back to topic. Anything outside the script caused W? To stare blankly into the camera... Perhaps more fodder for Bush or Chimp. Anyone still undecided is just fooling themselves and making all effort to become the center of attention.

Running red lights...

2004-09-30T21:27:00.000-04:00

It's not just for idiot Republicans in SUVs anymore... Watch shrub: he's 3-5 seconds in the red for every question and re-direct. Now he's demanding follow-ups.

The message that wrong-war-wrong-place-wrong-time sends to the troops is, I think "Sorry our president is a moron."

and Kerry is hitting on all cylinders now... The hits just keep on coming!

Programming note: Look at the boxes when they go split screen... I'm watching on a 20" TV... Bush's box is 6.5 inches wide. Kerry's box is 6.8 inches wide. Also, They line up Bush's box with Kerry's by head (see how much more poteum is in the screen).

"It's obvious that you've got nothing when all you do is attack in your rebutal."
- Baby Tiger

"Prediction: Osama Bin Laden will be caught somewhere between the October 18th and October 21st, give or take a day..."
- Baby Tiger

p.s... Remember, don't change horsemen in the middle of the apocalypse

DAMN YOU LEMONY SNICKETT!

2004-09-30T19:48:00.000-04:00

as usual, the book was awesome. But due to Handler's handlers, we must wait another year to find out the plight of the poor Baudelaire children and the plans of the evil Count Olaf.

I gotta confess, if you like fun writing, with a flair for the slightly gothic, The Series of Unfortunate Events books are awesome. Currently, there are 11 in the series, and they do come out more consistently than a certain British author of children's' books with more money than the bloody queen.

Also reading: Hegemony or Survival: America's quest for global dominance (Noam Chomsky) and You Have The Power: take back our country and restore democracy in America (Howard Dean.)
Just thinking again (watch out everyone!): how much more fun would the Dean/Bush debates have been? Dr. Howard would have never agreed to this kind of wanton censorship of the democratic process. But, really -- is anyone surprised that the Bush administration (with the aid of Democratic complacency) has absolutely ransacked the idea of free and open debate in the American political arena?

It seems like only weeks ago...

2004-09-25T20:24:00.000-04:00

We were sitting in the same place with the teeth of the hurricane hydra beating slowly about our necks... Blowing my diet on comfort foods (Mmmm... brownies and beer [drool....]) Just kidding, I have no beer. Maybe 1 Corona, but it's the only culture I have left in the house.

Gee, I wonder why we're having such an active hurricane season (or am I trying to reason it?) Glad there's no global warming!

Till the power goes out, I'm going to sit around and wonder what "Let the Sun Shine In" by Pebbles and Bam Bam would sound like if recorded by Social Distortion. Then I shall read the new Lemony Snickett. Ahh... It's good to have plans.

A few thoughts...

2004-09-23T17:51:00.000-04:00

Do you think, maybe, that the reason that Florida's legislature wants students to learn the Declaration of Independance is because of the words "by their Creator"? Could it be that Jesus freaks, who want God in everything, are going to use the next generation of kids to prove [sic] that there is no separation of church and state? Could it be possible that creator is not to be interpreted as any specifically higher power, but by the humans that created us?

Hey! Ho! Lets Go...

2004-09-19T01:01:00.000-04:00

to heaven... And now a punk rock moment of silence for the passing of guitarist Johnny Ramone, who follows Joey and Dee Dee to that great mosh pit in the sky. If you listen closely you can hear the holy hosts chanting "Gabba gabba! We accept you! We accept you! One of us!" Interesting fact: Bruce Springstein originally wrote "Hungry Heart" to give to the Ramones but kept it for himself because his manager told him to (Thanks, CNN.Com!) How about "Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack" in straight 4/4 time at 190Bpm. That would have been way friggin' cool.

Game off...

2004-09-15T19:32:00.000-04:00

I guess no one in the NHL read my blog... The lockout begins at midnite. Good luck, morons.

If you don't read it regularly, you absolutely must sign up for Media Matters for America updates. Thanks Dave, too bad you got your dose of conscious after assiting in getting Clinton impeached. But you're on the right side now, and that's what matters. You need to get back on the in, so you can start reporting some of the truths about the bushies and working towards his impeachment.

Not that I want to sound anti-patriotic, but next week is Freedom Week. Does that sound alarmingly like Hate Week? (Remember, Winston: We are at war with Eurasia. We were never at war with East Asia. The Brotherhood, lead by Goldberg, is our only chance at beating Big Brother. Oh, by the way, there is no Goldberg, and Big Brother wrote The Book. Thanks George Orwell, for 1984) I mean, we already have expanded the 5 Minutes Hate to the 24 hour a day, seven day a week hate (see: Fox News and buy Outfoxed.) Remember: Clinton lied and the Democrats want to steal your money and give it to men who want to give heroin to kittens.

Thinking out loud... (conspiracy theory time...)

2004-09-14T18:49:00.000-04:00

There's a possibility that the documents that indicate that president Bush may not have adequately completed his service were not real. I'm just thinking out loud (or as the Party in charge might say: committing thoughtcrime) but, is it possible that the documents were intentionally created as forgeries and leaked to the media so that it may cast doubt as to who would create such documents and to the authenticity of other documents that can be proven authentic? Obviously, blame would be placed directly at the opponent of the president, in this case John Kerry, as the attacker who would have reason to use forgery to put a chink in the Bush armor. This is a logical conclusion to dismiss the information as biased and not authentic, taking Kerry down a notch. An investigation is conducted, an innocent party confesses to guilt in conspiracy and steps down and is summarily indicted, arrested, convicted and lives in shame. Kerry loses ground in the public poles - biased though they may be - and Bush gets added points for sympathy vote.

But, isn't there a member of Bush's brain trust who has a history of doing shady things to discredit opponents in political races? Didn't Karl Rove once bug his own office so that his opponent would be convicted in the press (a press that frequently convicts innocent people by over-reporting, rarely lets facts get in the way of a good story, and never ever apologizes when they get it wrong) so that the candidate he worked for would win in a landslide?

Just asking.

Just say you have a month or so to kill...

2004-09-14T17:31:00.000-04:00

My latest guilty pleasure is a game called Insanaquarium, available on www.popcap.com. You basically have to feed fish and keep them alive while collecting egg pieces to have new pets with special powers, while in the process, upgrading your weapons to blow up the aliens that frequently invade your tank. It's mind numbing, but a great way to kill several hours (way more than you want...)

Early frontrunner for the Hakuna Matata award for frolicking with lions, or for the Darwin award for more faith than brains: Mental defect enters lions den durring feeding time armed with a bible. See the the video, here: http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange/3728626/detail.html
Perhaps he missed the Caesar's memo about Christians and lions?

Enough already...

2004-09-13T20:37:00.000-04:00

I got a survey last week asking my opionion of a new video game marketed to players over 17. It sounded neet until the graphic discriptions of the games' violence. Then it sounded like a real problem, because no 17 year old will be playing it. Kids in my classroom will. And they don't know the difference. And their parents, trying to make their children happy, won't have known, because the cryptic ratings system is defective. Who'se fault is it, then, that we have children learning to be killers? I overheard 5th grade children once talking about how cool Grand Theft Auto Vice City is when you start shooting up all of the buildings in Miami then you kill the pimp and slap the prostitute and (I may be embelishing, but you get the idea.) The glee in the childs eye when describing the scenario was truly chilling. Enough.

Fun site: www.george-says.com : make the president say what he's really saying anyway, then get it on a magnet.

Re-spon-sa-bil-i-ty

2004-09-10T17:51:00.000-04:00

I explain it to my students, must I explain it to my [sic] president? If you do something, it's your fault, not the guy that was in your chair last period, not the guy who'll be sitting in your chair tomorrow.

I will grant W. that NAFTA was not the wizest policy ever in American labor, but to blame Bill Clinton because Team W. has seen 2.4 + million jobs leave US shores is nearly (though not quite) as stupid as blaming me because the sun came up this morning. How the hell can you possibly blame Clinton? If the jobs were lost on your watch, they're your fault. If the buildings were hit on your watch, they're your fault. Did Clinton blame King George the First? The WTC as first bombed 36 days after he took office and his public stance was to take full responsibilty for the bombing, and then made sure that Ramsay Yusef was brougt to justice. Did W do the same? Don't think so.

Oh, Dick. I understand you had other priorities, but take a walk down the street and look at that haunting black wall, see the names of 54,000 people who also had other priorities.

Also, for anyone who would like to kill, say 5 minutes to an hour, click here to see John Kerry's original testimony to congress from 1971. Note the Parts that the swift boat liars always quote when saying that Kerry was unpatriotic and gave comfort and aide to the enemy are actually quotes from other soldiers and recount first hand information. None of his words were his own. Truth is the cornerstone of democracy, and the media has been very irresponsible in not re-broadcasting this testimony; thus the Swift Liers can turn the words against Kerry. George Washington, often considered our country's greatest patriot said as a boy "I cannot tell a lie." He then blaimed Bill Clinton for chopping down the cherry tree.

Selfish note: I keep hoping to get the e-mail from NHLCBA watch saying something like, "GAME ON: NHLPA and league reach a collective bargaining agreement," or something, so that I will have hockey to watch this year. But no, the players are too busy with their money grab to agree to a salary cap and the owners are too busy with their insistance that the league is in financial perill to agree to a CBA without a cap. Neither side wants to address the fact that hockey is starting to suck... especially if you're a fan of my beloved Panthers. The excitement is gone (and not just because they lose) because the style of play in the game, rules related, does not favor exciting play in the most exciting game. What should they do?
1. Get rid of the blue line... no 2 line passes will speed up neutral zone play and make for more odd man rushes, break aways, and more scoring.
2. No ties. No 4-on-4 overtime... back to 5 on 5. Ties are like kissing your sister, and a point for not losing does not incent any team to actually try to win. 5 minutes of 5 on 5 and if the game's still tied, go to a shootout. They do it in pee-wee. They do it in juniors. They do it in some of the minors. Why does the worlds elite league insist on having their fans come out to watch their team not win and not lose?
3. Players -- take a salary cap. You players need to understand your fan in the last row who works 20 hour days for 25 grand a year and who has just taken out a second mortgage on his house so that he can park his car, get a seat, get a hotdog, drink a beer, and watch you PLAY A FRIGGIN GAME FOR 3 HOURS is not even slightly able to sympathize with you because your contract includes only $3 million in salary and not $5 or $10 million. You play a game and you are extremely well compensated for it. Even at the league minimum ($180,000) which no one makes - is a lot of money. Get over yourselves.
4. Owners: Make some concessions -- accept a slightly higer cap. Bend over backwards. You're dealing with prima-donna players, deal with it. For crying out loud, think of your fans... think of the money you make, not the money you lose.

I am of dual feeling on this, though, because I'm almost always pro-labor, except when it comes to sports... you guys make way too much money to play this crap.

Random Grumblings

2004-09-09T16:30:00.000-04:00

They've started evacuating the Florida Keys. All tourists and those who live in mobile homes were supposed to leave today; starting tomorrow, all other residents are getting the boot. A major hurricane hasn't hit the Keys since 1938 or thereabouts. A category 5 is bad news. Hopefully, it'll lose most of its strength before it hits. I think I speak for all of us when I say our thoughts and prayers are with the inhabitants of Jamaica.

There have now been more than 1000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq. I heard the song "Blowing in the Wind" by Peter, Paul and Mary yesterday and it made me wonder just how many deaths it will take 'til Phony President Bush knows that too many people have died. He obviously doesn't care about the soldiers, since he refuses to attend any of their funerals. If it's not a photo op, he's not interested.

Speaking of photo ops, did anyone see the pictures of King George and Prince Jeb handing out ice to the victims of Frances? I almost wish I lived in one of those areas so I could have refused to let him use me as a pawn in his reelection campaign. If anyone thinks he actually gives a Cheney about any of us regular people, they are sadly mistaken.

In a completely unrelated topic, people seriously need to learn how to drive. I swear, if one more soccer mom pulls out of an elementary school with her rugrats in the minivan and gets impatient because I'm driving 15 miles per hour through a school zone set up to help protect HER children, I'm going to slam on my breaks, get out of my car and beat her to death with her children. Okay, maybe I won't. It just seems that out of all the speed limits that one would be the most important to parents. I don't have kids and I don't want to drive 15 mph (especially when I'm running late for work), but I do.

Ok... I suppose I don't watch enough dumb TV anymore...

2004-09-08T21:39:00.000-04:00

But when did Drew Carey change the theme song? I really dig the Proclaimers version of the Hollies "5 O'Clock World". Some of the cover themes themes look cool, too. Is this like the last season for it or something? It really stopped being funny right after the episode with Little Richard and Joe Walsh playing chess with Bernie Kosar.

Every wonder what the world did back before the days of electricity? How did people lie about each other before modern media? And exactly how many times do you have to repeat a lie before it becomes the truth?

And while I'm ranting, what sick bastard thinks anyone is actually happy that 1000 Americans have now died in a war in Iraq started under pretense of a lie by a president that was not elected by a majority of anyone that does not act for the majority of anyone? Oh. That sick bastard is Rush Limbaugh. See the article here. I think that was the reason we protested the war being started in the first place. The article, by the way, is published on Mediamatters.org, run by David Brock.

And with 8 weeks left to election day, how many more days before we find bin Laden? I guess all is fair in love and the war on brains.

Fear Factor

2004-09-08T03:15:00.000-04:00

In the latest "If you can't convince 'em, scare 'em" tactics from the Bush campaign, we have a warning (or is it a promise? It's so hard to tell with these guys) from Dick Cheney that if we don't reelect him and his sidekick, there will be another terrorist attack. The exact quote (as taken from seattlepi.com) is:

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States."

Wait a minute! You mean there's potential for more attacks?!? I thought team Bush and Cheney took care of the threat when they single-handedly caught Saddam Hussein. Wasn't there all kinds of evidence linking him to Al Qaeda? Didn't someone prove that he financed the attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon? There wasn't?

Sorry to be so sarcastic. I'm just sick of an administration that has nothing good to show for the last four years trying to scare or bully us into voting for them and pissed off at the mainstream mass media for not calling them on it.

The New Bush adds...

2004-09-07T19:45:00.000-04:00

Make him sound like a decent human being who is actually concerned for human existence and for the quality of life for the poor, down-trodden, and the beleaguered working class. And if you give him four more years he'll actually get to that stuff... As the New Jersey progressives screamed during the Great American Shoutout "Yeah, I MIGHT vote for Bush." Sorry, you had 4 years that you squandered to give Halliburton and Bechtel no bid contracts to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan and provide sub-standard services to American servicemen and women rather than using the services wing of the armed forces... Soldiers should help soldiers. At the same time you were doing this this George, did you too, forget the economy, Stupid? Jobs being sent overseas faster than one could say "Cheap WalMart crap." Unemployment rates looking better as people who can't receive further benefits fall off the roles (no they didn't find jobs) and/or just stop looking for work. Working people seeing their health insurance premiums skyrocket at a rate in opposite proportion to their benefits... George, did you think of controlling costs at the risk of curbing profits of insurance companies, or placing price limits on pharmaceutical companies so poor people don't have to decide between eating and meds? Didn't think so... While we're on the subject of the kings Bush, do you know Son calls Father 41 and Father calls Son 43 (referring to the number that they were [s]elected president of the US)? Anyone out there old enough to remember the age before cell phones when we all had beepers? Remember when we invented all of those codes to communicate by beeper? Remember what code 43 was back then? [Hint: Cheney you]

Oh and Jeb... Thanks for saving me a whopping $.08 per gallon on gas last month (saved me dang near $5.00, enough for a pack of cigarettes if I still smoked, or a Double Whopper, fries and Large Coke if I still ate carbs, or a 6 pack of really cheap beer if I still drank.) And thanks for giving it back in tax money, rather than working to have gas companies actually lower prices and reduce profit... another bizarre concept I admit, but I must just be some kind of extreme left-wing liberal or something.

"The First Thing Let's Do..."

2004-09-07T18:00:00.000-04:00

(With apologies to William Shakespeare).

Let's kill all the journalists. Or at least get rid of them. Let's start over and actually require truthful coverage. No more of this "Fair and Balanced" crap that actually means "we're going to report things we think should happen and not the things that actually are happening."

New rule: if you don't take the time to fact check and therefore lie to the nation instead of reporting factual news, you lose your job and have to pay a large fine. No more "No Spin" editorial/opinion shows posing as "real" news. If you want to have a show like that you have to pay, out of your own pocket, for mass advertising and disclaimers so the easily influenced in the country don't get confused and think you're reporting facts.

I just read that the Pentagon is investigating the circumstances and paperwork leading to John Kerry's Vietnam medals. Why are they doing this? It seems that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (a group at best out to befuddle the American public and at worst paid henchmen for our wonderful Commander in Chief) actually convinced someone an investigation is necessary. Maybe the accounts as to how Kerry got his three Purple Hearts, Silver Star and Bronze Star aren't 100% accurate, few things in life are. Granted, I know very little about the whole process of getting combat medals and I'm way too lazy to research it, but I do know the military is full of red tape and bureaucracy, so it's not like Kerry went to someone and said, "give me war decorations now."

So on one hand we have a man who, even if it's decided didn't deserve his war decorations, actually signed up, did TWO tours of Vietnam and has countless men willing to stand up next to him and say, "he was there and did heroic things when he didn't have to." On the other hand we have a man who joined the Texas Air National Guard (skipping the waiting list, mind you) because his life was too important to lose, went AWOL for several months and has countless men willing to stand up and say, "yes, he used his father to get out of serving in Vietnam," and "no, he never showed up for duty in Alabama."

It's amazing that we hardly ever hear about W and his vanishing act. Most of the paperwork on Bush's military service in Alabama was "lost" in a fire and not one person he supposedly served with has ever come forward to back the president up. In fact, other pilots who were stationed there have emphatically stated that he was not there.

I'm slightly more informed than the average voter, but most of the scary stuff I've learned about Bush has been from alternate sources: books, the internet, family, endless yammering of extreme left-wing boyfriend (I love you, Sweetie). The average voter isn't going to go out of his or her way to find the truth. He is going to sit back and let Jane and Joe Newscaster (or worse, Bill O'Reilly) tell him what to think and who to vote for.

This can't continue.

Thank you Frances,

2004-09-05T11:51:00.000-04:00

I want to take a moment to pause and reflect on how fortunate I was during this hurricane. Aside from having to reset my clocks every 20 or so minutes, the two tiles lost over the back porch, and all of the leaves, palm fronds, and various other pieces of crap strewn about my existence, I made it through o.k. Those in the north Palm Beach county and some of the central counties cannot all say the same. Fortunately, while kicking Grand Bahamas ass, Frances lost a good portion of her strength, making landfall as a CAT2 and not a more powerful and damaging CAT3 or 4. Huge difference in the damage done by 100 mph winds and that done by 120+ mph winds. Please remember those less fortunate than us when thinking charitably.

It is still raining and I'm beginning to wonder can locate woodstuffs sufficient to build an ark that is 30 cubits high and 80 cubits long. In SoFla, there is a severe lack of trees (thank you developers) so probably the answer is no, it's not available. Most of the debris from the cleared meleluca thicket stayed put in the NW wind, in that none of it came through windows in the back of the house. You know, developers, if you're not going to be able to put houses on that land, could you at least do something of ecological value? Say, maybe convert it to wet lands or something? Or are you all content to allow it to become an overgrown thicket once again?

Hopefully, the good folks at FP&L and BellSouth will get utilities back on to those without quickly so that our SoFla friends and neighbors don't have to go without AC for too long when the sun finally returns, and so BT can contribute.

As soon as Frances gets far enough out, the business of picking up the broken pieces starts in earnest, just in time for the real job of getting ready for Hurricane Ivan.

If you can't say anything nice...

2004-09-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

You're probably set for a career in journalism. Our local One and Only news station just spent an hour showing a large motor yacht adrift in the intercostal waterway. They deemed that the person was not using their base intellect and that they should have listened to the governor when he said to make sure all was in order before the storm.

Actually, that person was prepared, but their two anchors gave way in the 90 mph winds that we're getting so far. One of the other stations actually took the time to interview the captain, who actually saved the vessel and was doing the best he could to save property and the environment. But, if you'd rather report based on observation, than people think that someone busting their ass to do the right thing is really an idiot out playing in the storm.

Who's the idiot?

Oh... and video game comercials are really getting disturbing. Have you seen the one for Pimkin? HOTDOG HOTDOG HOTDOG. I'm scared.

3:15 update: I'm so friggin' bored! I braved the elements and lived to tell the tale a few hours ago, funky noise comming from outside and macho curiosity (there's an oxymoron for ya') told me to investigate. My dad said he saw wicked blue sparks jumping from a substation on the other side of the expressway, which he attributed to the noise -- I saw no funky spark. : (. But on the bright side, all of the dead fronds have been stripped from the 75 foot tall Washingtonian Palm. On the down side, the neighbors will likely be pissed that they now litter their yards.

8:45 update: Still powerful, still bored. Baby Tiger lost power at 12:30, and has been relegated to flashlight and candle power all day, but not me. Have power, and blog and less and less sanity. As Comic Book Guy would say, "Slowest storm ever." A few recent power glitches, though lead me to worry if I'll even finish this post, but we'll see how long it lasts. I still can't believe I'm trying to survive a hurricane withouth marshmallows. (tradition) Damn you, low-carbohydrate diet!

Trying to reason...

2004-09-03T23:55:00.000-04:00

I forget... Does Jimmy Buffet actually explain how to reason with the hurricane season, or is his ultimate solution to just get drunk? Might be easier than watching any more pre Frances coverage, watching things grow on the walls, or thinking. I swear, if they show another gumshoe reporter earning his or her bones in the Bahamas standing in the middle of the storm doing the report-by-scream method, I may just have to go find traffic to play in. Roads are dead tonight, so I may have to play on the expressway!

Beautiful sunset, though:

2004-09-03T21:15:00.000-04:00

Nice sky...

A little truth...

2004-09-03T02:20:00.000-04:00

goes a long way, but apparently not at the RNC. Take the Governator for example... The muscle-man claims to have been 'saved' while watching a debate between Richard Nixon and Humphrey in 1968. Never happened: Nixon and Humphrey never had a debate. So, why is it even a big deal? To me it indicates that even when the right attempts to be sincere, they have to lie to pull it off. How hard would it be to tell the truth about why you became a republican? Or is it that the years of hard training, clean living, and good times before Maria have fogged your mind?

These people are turning America into the land of Make Believe, be damned those who attept to disagree. Big ups to the plucky protestors that infultrated the young republican speach, much to the annoyance of all the righties.

Change of subject: Did I mention how much I love waiting for hurricanes? The schizo forecasts, the rizing bile in the natives, all the fun? You can tell distance and risk factor by the horns, speed and curse words foisted towards each other on South Florida's streets. Still hoping for a change of course... probably won't see a direct hit, but we'll get storm force winds. Fingers crossed.

IT'S COMMING RIGHT FOR US...

2004-09-02T02:25:00.000-04:00

O.k. enough sarcasm... You see, for years after moving to SoFla, my family dutifly followed the stop-drop-and-roll hurricane prep to the nines every time the weatherman called, stocking up on sufficient canned goods to feed a small country, glomming bottles of water, and procuring all provisions. Each and every time we followed the motions, the storm turned at the last minute, sparing us, but leaving us with a lighter wallet and the Publix managers with a particular glow. I became convinced that the word "hurricane" was a code for critical overstock conditions at WinnDixie and the Home Depot.

Then came Andrew. The most destructive storm to ever hit the United States. We were fairly untouched by Andrew, but we were without power for 17 days (in August and September) but hey! We had walls and a roof and that's more than could be said for those living just 30 miles south of us. No one was shot for looting in my neigborhood (at least not in my neighborhood, I don't know if any of my opportunistic locals drove down for a free buffet of crap from some downtrodden soul) but people did get testy over water, batteries, non perishables, etc. I learned the joys of Ballpark Franks and marshmallows roasted on the gas grill on the back portch, and Candle S'mores. I found myself sweating in the middle of the night with the windows open (not sleeping too soundly), and gritting my teeth at the roar of my neighbor's gas generator.

I wanted to rail on more hypocracy in the right wing tonight but with Frances bearing down on us, and with most of us just hoping that we'll be spared the devistaton, praying for a turn to the north, politics seems irrelevant now. For the moment, right or left alike, batten down the hatches, get the supplies ready, keep the flashlights out of the kids hands until they are absolutely necessary, and pray to what ever deity you choose that we all receive leniency.

Kudos to the local weathermen for not launching into their normal tear of breathless hysterics by this point. That is their usual M.O., but they have remained clear, sober, and infomative. ^5.

Good luck Florida.

Differences of opinion...

2004-08-31T18:52:00.000-04:00

Are the American way. And anyone who tries to limit the right of people to disagree by, say, calling those who do irrelevant, is not American. I, for one, do not agree with the assertion by those in charge that anything other than completely agreeing with the message is to be unpatriotic, or to hate America. On the contrary, I love America, but I'm not too keen on the current power structure.
Welcome to what desperately needs to be the last 62 days of the trainwreck known as the bush2 Presidency, if there is any hope for the Union at all.

Got an invoice from my bank telling me that I now owe an outstanding service fee for IRA accounts, rolled over from 401Ks that I kept when I lost jobs. They told me that it's a new policy and the only way to avoid fees is to have at least 50K in the IRA, 250K in combined assets, or 25K in the bank. Not to accuse banks of class warfare, but it does seem like another advantage of wealth, does it not? OK.. So I haven't put a dime in the account since I opened it, but if I did, there would go one of the 2 I've had to rub together. Then there's bush's economy, which has let me watch the value of said IRA drop (both combined are worth less than either of them were worth individually...) Perhaps if I were, say, billionaire entrepreneur Alex Spanos, and had a spare 5.78 million to contribute to the prez and his party, and various groups airing media bending adds (Swift Boat Veterans for what?), the fee would not even amount to lint in my pocket.

"Look, I'm an aide to the president. I serve at his sufferance. He's been a friend of mine for a great many years. I'm supposed to look out after certain activities within the White House, the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, the Office of Strategic Initiatives, the Office of Political Affairs. But I'm one of the great many people who serve as a senior aide. " -- Karl Rove in an interview with ABC news. (incidentally, as Rove said this, he held his hand in a zero gesture, that also means *ssh*l* [I re-moved my vowels] and "go Cheney yourself" in certain cultures) Nope. Sorry. I don't believe it. This from the 9th degree grand master in using push polling, distortions, and out-right lies to destroy the opponents public image (some of the characters Rove has destroyed still cannot get jobs...). Lee Atwater prodigy. The man who asked southern voters if they would vote for John McCain if he had an illegitimate black child. Chickenhawk. Doesn't he have direct ties to the Swift Boat liars? Could you believe that this man has no power? Neither can I.

Different subject: Voting machines. I've been a geek for years (self admitted... Admitting is the first step.) I know that I can't trust my PC to keep all of my Word documents straight. I'm not going to trust my future to it. I suppose that there are cultures that sleep on beds of nails, and if they can be comfortable with that, they can be comfortable with the current state of electronic voting. I'm not comfortable with them. Seriously, if they can't give me a piece of paper so that they can recount my vote (if they count it at all) then they can just dangle my chad!