I've only recently started reading Thomas Friedman. Up until last year, Atlanta had two newspapers. The morning paper, which was liberal, was the Constitution. The afternoon paper, which was conservative, was the Journal. I prefer an afternoon paper and I subscribed to the Journal. They had been sharing resources for quite some time, and, last year, they just morphed into one newspaper, The Atlanta Urinal and Constipation. The editorial section is run by Cynthia Tucker who is liberal, and the assistant editor is Jim Wooten, who is conservative. They do try and maintain balance, but the paper does lean left. So, now I get to read some columnists that were previously only available in the Constipation. Thomas Friedman was one of them. Turns out I haven't been missing much.
Tommy lost all his stature as some sort of pundit on foreign affairs when he was suckered by informed by Crown Prince Abdullah of the Israeli suicide Arab peace plan. What a bullshit plan that was. Let me get this straight. Israel retreats to indefensable borders. We give Yassir Arafat his own sovereign state with its own airport and the ability to make treaties and just maybe the Arabs might recognize Israel. Would this be before or after they drove all the Jews into the sea? And Friedman fell for this bullshit and expects us to ever take him seriously again?
I opened today's paper and came upon this column (link requires registration) by Mr. Friedman. As usual, excerps and comments follow.
Reading the papers lately, I've lost track of whether the Pentagon plans to
invade Iraq from three sides or four, and whether we will be using Jordan,
Kuwait or Diego Garcia as our main launching pad.
Tom, all you have to do is ask your editors at the New York Times. They're the ones who keep releasing invasion plans.
But one thing I haven't seen much planning for is the impact an attack on Iraq
would have on the world's oil market.
Well, dammit, Bush and Cheney are oil men. They probably have some idea. It's just that there are leaks at the Pentagon but none at the White House.
Depending on how the war went, that impact could be very bad and lead to a
sharp spike in oil prices, like $60-a-barrel oil.
Wouldn't that suck big time?
But — wait a minute — it could also be very good, and lead to $6-a-barrel oil that
would weaken OPEC and, maybe, also weaken the Arab autocrats who depend on
high oil prices to finance their illegitimate regimes and buy off opponents.
And also finance radical religion of peaceTM terrorism.
Raising this oil question is not an argument against taking down Saddam Hussein.
He's a bad man, building dangerous weapons, who has raped the future of two
generations of Iraqis. The whole region would be improved by his ouster.
Way to go Tom. You have stumbled onto the truth. Even a blind squirrel can stumble upon an acorn once in a while.
It is an argument, though, for thinking through all the dimensions of any attack
on Iraq. We're not talking about a war in Tora Bora here.
Right again. We'll be attacking Iraq.
We're talking about a war in the world's main gas station.
This should be an incentive to help Russia with its oil extraction technology. And Mexico, we're giving your people jobs. Howsa 'bout pumpin' some more oil for us?
"A proposed attack on Iraq is an extraordinarily high-risk economic
adventure that could either destabilize the governments of one or
more oil exporting countries by creating a prolonged period of low
prices, or, if things went wrong, lead to a prolonged disruption of
world oil supplies, which could be even more devastating," says
Philip K. Verleger Jr., an oil expert and fellow of the Council on
Foreign Relations.
So Phil, you're telling us you don't know what's gonna happen? Thanks. You're a big help. Maybe Tom has some ideas.
Let's start with the $60-a-barrel scenario.
Now that would suck big time! That would really piss off the soccer moms in their SUV's.
(The price today is in the mid-$20's.) While the New York Times Pentagon keeps leaking its war plans, no one ever writes about what Saddam's war plans might be.
First, find a real good bunker to hide in.
What if Saddam responds by firing Scuds with chemical or biological
warheads at Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti oilfields? The world market
could lose not only Iraq's two million barrels a day, but millions more.
A real bad thing. But not as bad as an American city being nuked.
And what if the war drags on and we have as much trouble finding
Saddam as we've had finding Osama?
We don't need to find Saddam. Once we defeat the Iragi army, I'm sure some of the people around Sammy will see the handwriting on the wall (Mene, mene, tekel...) and be willing to cut a deal with us.
Don't kid yourself: If prices skyrocket because of a war in the Persian Gulf,
Venezuela, Iran, Nigeria and others will cut back their output and keep prices
high to milk the moment for all it's worth.
During war, we have to make sacrifices. What's the other scenario?
The scenario that could produce $6-a-barrel oil goes like this: Iraq under
Saddam has been pumping up to two million barrels of oil a day, under the
U.N. oil-for-weapons and Palestinian bomber families oil-for-food
program. Let's say a U.S. invasion works
And we all remember how fiercly the Iraqi army fought the last time.
and in short order Saddam is ousted and replaced by an Iraqi
Thomas Jefferson,
Yeah. Like that's gonna happen. Call up Ripley's believe it or not. An Arab Thomas Jefferson. Maybe it's a joke. I didn't realize Tommy had a sense of humor.
or just a "nice" general ready to abandon Iraq's nuclear weapons
program and rejoin the family of nations.
Which is what we're hoping for.
That would mean Iraq would be able to modernize all its oilfields,
attract foreign investment and in short order ramp up its oil production
to its long-sought capacity of five million barrels a day. That is at least
three million barrels of oil a day more on the world market, and Iraq,
which will be desperate for cash to rebuild, is not likely to restrain itself.
(Now you understand why Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait all have an economic
interest in Saddam's staying in power and Iraq's remaining a pariah state,
so it can't produce more oil.)
And wouldn't it be nice to tell the Saudis to eat sand? And just think what that would do to the financing of international terrorism. Our 'friends' the Suadis are the biggest bankrollers of the terrorists. This is starting to sound good.
In addition, notes Mr. Verleger, if we invade Iraq in the late winter or spring,
What does the New York Times say? Have they set a date yet?
when world oil demand normally declines, OPEC countries will have
to slash their own production even more to accommodate Iraq.
This would be coming at a time when non-OPEC countries
The good guys.
(Russia, Mexico, Norway, Oman and Angola) have been
steadily boosting their output and will continue doing so.
Most OPEC countries, however, can't cut back any more to make
room for them. Venezuela is broke.
And whose fault is that?
Iran, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia need cash to deal with all their debts,
their masses of unemployed and new infrastructure demands.
Like I really care. Bad government has its consequences. It will be fun watching the mullahs of Iran and the Saudi princes suffer, the bastards. And Nigeria, just another sub-Saharan basket case.
(Watch Saudi Arabia. King Fahd is now gravely ill in a hospital in
Switzerland, and the struggle to succeed him is in full swing.)
The Arab version of fighting over the estate. Except they use weapons and not lawyers.
Bottom line: A quick victory that brings Iraq fully back into the oil market could
lead to a sharp fall in oil incomes throughout OPEC that could seriously
weaken the oil cartel and rob its many autocratic regimes of the income
they need to maintain their closed political systems.
And in the Saudis' case international terrorism. That is why Charles Krauthammer opined over four months ago that we needed to tackle Iraq before dealing with the Israeli-Plastinian situation. Take out Iraq and we eliminate some terrorist funding and some terrorist bases. Do you think Syria or Iran would want to fuck with us then? Without Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, Yassir Arafat is history. And good riddance to that evil bastard. He has done more harm to the Palestinians than the Israelis ever could.
In fact, give me sustained $10-a-barrel oil and I'll give you revolutions
from Iran to Saudi Arabia, and throw in Venezuela.
Look. Tom gets it.
If that scenario prevails, you could look at an invasion of Iraq as
a possible two-for-one sale: destroy Saddam and destabilize OPEC
at the same time. Buy one, get one free.
Put Palestinian terrorism out of business. And, as an added bonus, can you imagine Bush not getting reelected with gas under a buck a gallon. Wouldn't that piss Hillary off? See, it's not a twofer. It's a threefer.
But you better prepare for the consequences of both.
And I'm sure the admisitration has.
Let's roll!
On my way in to work this morning, I was listening to Neal Boortz, our local Libertarian talk show guy and he was badmouthing BMW's. He stated the anyone driving a BMW wished it were a Mercedes. I have this blue 2001 BMW Z3 that I was driving, with the top down, on a beautiful Georgia morning, and at that time I wouldn't have been in any other car, thank you. I disagree with you on this one Neal.
Today was the day of the big move at TCIDNN (The Company I Dare Not Name). At least once a year we play musical employees. Supposedly, this is to save real estate expenses. I've been here in Atlanta, in the same building, for 17 years, and we have saved so much in real estate expenses that the landlords should be paying us by now. We move people out of our building into another building so we can move people from another building into our building. Then a year later, we move people out so we can move the people back in that we moved out in the last move. Is this clear? I think that the manager in charge of real estate has a brother-in-law in the moving business.
This time, the move affects me. They've decided to put an entire department from another building into our building and they're gonna put 'em in the end of the building where I have lived, in the same office, for seven years. I get to move downstairs into an office with my team lead. Good news - the office has a window. Bad news - it's on the same floor as my manager.
Being a techno-prima-donna and a slob, I have accumulated a lot of stuff over the years. For the past three days I have been going through stuff and pitching what I won't need anymore. I still have instructor guides and foils from when I was an instructor many years ago. I woke up sick this morning, but since they were gonna move me this afternoon or tomorrow, I had to go in and pack up the rest of my things.
Every Tuesday, at 10:00 AM we have a team conference call to discuss problems, I/T requests, and projects. This usually lasts about 30 minutes. Recently, my manager decided to sit in on the call, which adds about 10 more minutes to the meeting. Plus, I have to be careful not to make any sarcastic remarks as he doesn't really appreciate my sense of humor. We also have picked up a new team member and he's not really sure how to code his SHTS yet. He just doesn't have his SHTS together yet.
For those of you who came in late, SHTS is our Stupid Hourly Tracking System that we use to track how we spend our time. I discussed SHTS in More detail in this post back on May 1. ( Hey! Blogger's archive links work again.)
Our new guy doesn't quite have the nuances on how we make up our accurately code our time. Fortunately, our manager doesn't either. Anyway, off our manager went on a twenty minute explanation of why we use SHTS and how we were supposed to support our customers. In the true spirit of a bureaucracy, we were not supposed to give our users excellent support because if we did and performed too well, upper management would think that we were overstaffed and reduce headcount! The message I got from this meeting was mediocrity was the key.
The meeting went on for over an hour.
I was able to put the phone on speaker and pack up some of my stuff, but, I needed to pitch some stuff, and the trash receptacles were outside my office. I also needed another box. Finally, the meeting ended and I was able to finish packing. Got all my books into three boxes and everything else in my desk.
About that time, the person in charge of the move came by to doublecheck on what was being moved.
Me: Uh, my desk, my chair, my PC, and one bookshelf.
Her: Your desk?
Me: Yep. My desk.
Her: I thought that was going to the warehouse.
Me: No, it's going downstairs to my team lead's office.
Her: Not to the warehouse?
Me: No. Downstairs to my team lead's office.
Her: So there will be two desks in that office?
Me: Yeah. Mine and his.
Her: Aren't there already two desks in there?
Me: Yes. The old one will have to be moved out so we can move mine in.
This was just the start. Then we had to talk about my bookshelf and the other desk which was going to the warehouse. Now we came to the old coax attached dumb terminal (which didn't attach to anything and quit working around the time we pulled out all the coax) and the old desktop laser printer that needed a fan, which we couldn't afford to replace.
Her: What are you gonna do about them?
Me: I'm gonna leave 'em here.
Her: No. You have to get rid of them.
Me: They're no good. I don't want them. Throw 'em in a dumpster.
Her: No. You have to take care of them. I only do furniture. Call the facilities person. She'll get rid of them.
About this time I felt like saying they're freaking paper weights. Leave them for the next occupants of this office. I'm a cripple. I shouldn't have to be moving. Don't you value Diversity (All hail Diversity!)?
I figgered I'd just forget about them. Ooops! I goofed! Unfortunately, I had to pick up another box from the pile right outside of her office. 'Have you called facilities yet?' Damn! Busted!
So, I call the facilities person and she says no, you have to call asset management. I called him and he said that it wasn't really his responsibility, but he'd come get 'em and hide 'em somewhere. He works for the same manager as I do so we can work together.
So now it's after 12:00, I feel like crap, and I've still got to unplug my PC and get it ready to move. Finally, around 1:00, I have everything packed up and labeled. Now I can go home and crash, which I do. I slept most of the afternoon. I'm feeling much better and not yet sure if I'm going to work tomorrow. And if I do, whether I should go to my new office or to the warehouse.
Not really sure where my desk will be.
I had dinner at my friends Michael and Cindy's house on Saturday night, and Michael asked if I had heard Cynthia McKinney's primary election radio ads. My radio listening consists of my local National Proletariat Radio station (for the classical music) which doesn't take advertising (Well, actually it does. It's just not real advertising), local hard rock stations (I don't think that's Cynthia's demographic), and conservative talk radio (I know that's not Cynthia's demographic). So, no, I hadn't, but knowing Cynthia, I could imagine that she would be running a real smear campaign. And to no one's surprise, she is. Michael showed me the pertinent info out on the web and I said to him, 'Thank you. I know what I'm gonna do for Monday's blog.'
I've talked about Georgia's 4th Congressional District before. It consists of three parts:
So, the game is rigged. Whover wins the primary, wins the seat. Normally, Cynthia runs unopposed in the Democratic primary. This year, however, she has a challenger. Her opponent is Denise Majette a former DeKalb County judge. Since Cynthia is now running against a black, female Democrat she has to crank up the smear machine big time. In last Thursday's Atlanta Urinal and Constipation was this article about the radio ads from both candidates.
Less than a month before their showdown at the polls, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney and her challenger are facing off with different radio ads.
I wonder which one deals with the issues and which one smears her opponent?
Majette's doesn't mention McKinney, while McKinney's attacks Majette by name.
I'm shocked! Shocked, I say!
Majette --- who McKinney claimed is backed by conservative Republicans
She hasn't claimed backing by the World Wide Zionist ConspiracyTM yet, but give her time. She'll make that charge soon enough. Its them damn Jews out to get me!
--- uses her ad to attack Republicans. The ad says Majette has "the record to take on the Republicans and get our fair share" of federal money for schools and health care. It also touts her degrees from Yale University and Duke University Law School and her nine years as a DeKalb County State Court judge.
Sounds pretty qualified to me. And she's stressing positives. Doesn't sound like much of a Democrat.
McKinney's ad, by contrast, names Majette repeatedly.
Once again. I'm shocked! Shocked I say!
"Abuse of power sometimes is an angry, out-of-control cop beating up a teenager in California. Sometimes it's an angry, out-of-control judge like Denise Majette," the announcer says.
Or an angry out-of-control looney like Cynthia McKinney making baseless allegations about 9/11.
The ad goes on to say that an appeals court had overturned a prison sentence Majette gave and accuses her of hiding a trial transcript to cover up mistakes. "She can't be trusted with our rights or our votes."
Wow! Sounds serious. I wanna know more about this. I bet Denise Majette does also.
Majette on Wednesday said she didn't know the basis for the accusations, but added: "My opponent has always been a negative campaigner."
See! She does want to know more. I do too. And Sainte Cynthia d'Arc (according to the Arab Times) a negative campaigner? Judge Majette oughta be ashamed of herself.
McKinney did not respond to the Journal-Constitution's requests for an interview.
For the third time. I'm shocked! Shocked, I say!
University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock said the ads represent a reversal of traditional roles.
"Typically the first real solid shot comes from the challenger," said Bullock. "The challenger has to pry votes from the incumbent. It is a surprise to see the incumbent go negative before the challenger."
Sounds like Cynthia might be a little worried. Be still my beating heart.
OK. What were these allegations all about? Could this be some real serious abuse of power by Majette? Could this be comparable to a white cop slamming a black on the hood of a car? The AJC did a follow up article on Saturday.
McKinney, who represents the 4th Congressional District, launched a radio ad campaign this week that compares the former DeKalb State Court judge to an "angry, out-of-control police officer beating up a prisoner."
It says Majette, who is challenging McKinney in the Aug. 20 Democratic primary, "lied and hid the existence of trial transcripts to cover up mistakes she made that deprived innocent people of their rights."
This is beginning to sound serious. I'm really worried now. We definitely don't need an out-of-control person representing the 4th Congreszsional District. We need a voice of reason and sanity.
It concludes that Majette "can't be trusted with our rights or our votes."
Which implies that Cynthia can.
Majette denies the accusations, which are based on the 1998 trial of Linda Hamilton.
Now, we're gonna here the real story. I'm reading with bated breath.
Hamilton, charged with driving 17 mph over the speed limit, demanded a jury trial and was found guilty.
In handing down her punishment, Majette sternly chastised Hamilton for insisting on a costly, time-consuming trial and sentenced her to two days in jail plus community service and ordered her to pay a fine of $1,000.
And got up from behind the bench and bitch slapped her. And probably told the cops they should have beat her up. Sorry. Got a little carried away there. Just figgered that was gonna be Cynthia's next accusation.
Hamilton, seeking to challenge her sentence, sought a transcript of the court proceedings, but ultimately had to ask the Georgia Court of Appeals to order Majette to release it.
The appeals court eventually reversed the conviction and said Majette had not properly advised Hamilton of her right to be represented by an attorney.
Hamilton paid a $92 fine and served no jail time.
So justice was served.
On Friday, Majette denied any wrongdoing in the case. "I didn't hide any records, and I didn't deny her her rights," she said.
And I didn't bitch slap her even tho' I wanted to.
McKinney's campaign manager, Bill Banks, said the campaign will soon focus on the congresswoman's accomplishments for the district. But first, he said, McKinney wants to smear her opponent draw attention to what she considers Majette's failings.
In other words, smear early, smear often.
"What we're trying to show is she doesn't have . . . good judgment" Banks said. "We felt she was vulnerable in this area."
And Cynthia McKinney does have good judgement? Stop it! You're killin' me!
Emory University political scientist Merle Black said the ad's comparison between Majette and a vicious police officer is a bit of a stretch,
A bit of a stretch? A bit of a stretch? Man this is freakin' bungee city! This guy has a firm grasp on the obvious. And he teaches at Emory? With comments like that he may have to get out of academia. He's making too much sense.
but for the most part, the ad is "just another day at the office in terms of a political campaign."
Especially a campaign involving Miss Big Fat Mouth.
"In politics, fairness is not what it's all about," he said. "The idea is to be unfair.
And when are the spineless Republicans gonna learn this? I miss Lee Atwater.
The idea is to put your opponent on the defensive and make her explain."
When they gonna make Cynthia explain why she's a wacko?
Majette's current ad focuses on her record, though she is beginning to criticize McKinney in her public statements as spending time stirring up controversies instead of paying attention to the district.
And being an all around looney. Examples? Hell yes we have examples. From the AJC to you.
After the terrorist attacks last fall, McKinney was castigated for implying that the Bush administration may have known about the planned assaults but did nothing to stop them so friends of the president could profit from the devastation.
She also was criticized for apologizing to Saudi Prince Alwaleed after then-New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani rejected the prince's offer of $10 million for the Sept. 11 victims.
And she continues to make us proud.
Meanwhile, I'm waiting for the Democratic primary, where, for the first time in my life I will be a Democrat and, I will be voting for Judge Denise Majette. I hope she wins and rids of us of our wacko Congresscritter.
Here come da Judge! Here come da Judge!
No blog yesterday and a short one today.
I was really tired at work yesterday, so I took off early, ran some errands, and came home and took a nap. My friend Cindy came over and picked some tomatoes, cucumbers, and black eyed peas from my garden. We went out to a Mexican restaurant, she went home, I did some finances, watched Monk, and went to bed. So, no time to blog last night.
Today, I slept late and ran some more errands. I went to the store and now I'm home and it is already late afternoon. Cindy and her husband are having me over for dinner tonight, featuring stuff from my garden. All I have to do is a little computer work (Will program for food.). The nice thing about going to their house is that Michael, her husband is the wine buyer for Greens package store in Atlanta. We always have good wine, usually three bottles. If you are in Atlanta, and want some good wine advice, go to the Greens on Buford Highway and ask for Michael Bishop. Tell him the cripple sent ya'. He'll take good care of you.
So, not much time left to do much writing. But, I did find this little tidbit in the first section of the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation.
Former President Clinton and his wife have asked a court to have taxpayers reimburse them for legal costs related to the Whitewater investigation, their lawyer said in a statement late Friday.
Now let me get this straight. They and the McDougals looted Madison Guarantee Trust, Hillary made this incredible profit in cattle futures (Why didn't we just give Hillary $1 billion every quarter and watch her turn it into $100 billion and in no time flat we would have eliminated the national debt?), Bill used the Arkansas State Troopers as a procurement squad, he had shady dealings with Don Lassiter, they illegally obtained 1000 FBI files (Oops we goofed! Just a bureaucratic snafu), they trashed the Constitution, they rented out the White House, they sold secrets to the Chinese for campaign contributions, and they politicized the IRS and FBI. I could go on and on but I do have to be somewhere tonight. They ran up huge legal bills by stonewalling every investigation and now they have the unmitigated gall to ask me to pay their goddam legal bills?
The Clintons raked in millions of dollars last year after leaving the White House. The former president earned $9.2 million on the lecture circuit, and Hillary Clinton --- now New York's junior senator --- received an $2.85 million advance on her memoirs.
And they want me to pay their goddam legal bills?
But they still have legal bills totaling between $1.75 million and $6.5 million, according to the financial disclosure form Mrs. Clinton was require to file as a member of the Senate. The Clintons paid $1.3 million in legal bills last year, according to the Senate filing.
Aw, you're breaking my heart here. They've also stiffed some of their lawyers. Listen up. We're gonna give these two assholes generous pensions for the rest of their lives. God knows how much money they've socked away from all the money they got from selling pardons. Let their Hollywood friends pay their goddam legal bills. Leave us poor hard working Americans out of it. I mean, they want to take money from working familiesTM to provide legal relief for the rich. What does Little Dickie Gephardt and Little Tommie Daschle have to say about this? Legal relief for the rich? This sure doesn't sound like something Democrats would be for. As an aside, Nixon paid all his legal bills. He didn't even have a legal defense fund like the Clintons did. The only bill I'll pay is the plane fare to get these bozos out of the country. They could go on the same plane as Alec, Barbra, Martina, Robert (Altman) and Tom (Cruise). To Bozo the clown, may you rest in peace, I'm sorry I sullied your memory by calling these two crooks bozos.
And now for our daily dose of comedy we amble on over to democrats.com, the web site of the Vast Left Ring Conspiracy, or maybe it's just the Democrats' version of the Onion. On their home page they have a quotomatic function that puts up a different quote of the day every time you hit reload. I got a big kick out of this one.
"Under Clinton, spending on counterterrorism more than doubled; the 1993 World Trade Center bombers were caught; and the largest counterterrorism operation in U.S. history thwarted the planned millenium attacks.
What millenium attacks? What about the embassy bombings and the USS Cole? And the largest counterterrorism operation was aimed at right wing religious groups, for example, Waco and Ruby Ridge.
After the 1998 attack on our embassies in Africa, President Clinton authorized Tomahawk missle (sic) strikes against Bin Laden.
And hit an aspirin factor in the Sudan and wiped out some tents and goats in Afganistan
It is also worth noting reports that the current Bush Administration backed away from some of the more aggressive measures for dealing with Al Qaeda which Clinton had passed on."
-- Danvers is a former special adviser to President Clinton on national
security, quoted in The New Yorker, p. 6
William Danvers, 13-May-02
What aggressive measures is he talking about? The only aggressive measures Clinton used involved his teeth aggressively biting his lip. And it is also worth noting that the Clinton Administration was offered bin Laden on a silver platter and turned down the offer. What a bunch of crap this is.
That's all I got to say for today. More to come on Monday.
Have a great weekend.
I'm actually in a pretty mellow mood tonight so don't expect a good rant out of me. Heck, I'll even clean up my language.
I've noticed every now and then someone from Boeing visits my site. If you're a sysprog, there's a good chance I may know you. So, hi. And having worked with them, I can tell ya, Boeing has some really good sysprogs.
I noticed the House passed some legislation to relax the embargo with Cuba. No link, I just heard it on National Proletariat Radio as I was driving home. Charlie Rangel, noted (sarcasm on) Libertarian (sarcasm off) Congressman from Harlem stated that a policy of engagement would be best for the Cuban people. I wonder why relaxed trade sanctions will help the victims of a repressive regime in Cuba, while harsh trade sanctions were designed to help victims of a repressive regime in South Africa? I'm just dumb, I guess and don't understand the big picture.
From today's Atlanta Urinal and Constipation:
Israeli officials acknowledged Wednesday that flawed intelligence probably led to the air strike that targeted a leading Hamas militant but also killed 14 other Palestinians, including nine children.
Had the shoe been on the other foot the story in the Arab papers would have begun:
Palestinian thugs officials acknowledged Wednesday that flawed
intelligence probably led to the homicide bombing that targeted women and children
that only killed 14 Israelis, including nine children. There were supposed to be
at least 20 people on the bus sputtered the Palestinian propagandist
spokesman.
Oh, here's an interesting article about Puerto Rico. Some excerpts and comments:
Puerto Rico's transformation is a product of a unique, lucrative and conflicted relationship with the United States, which took the Caribbean island from Spain in 1898.
Contrast Puerto Rico with Cuba, which the United States also took from Spain in 1998. But among Latino's in the United State, Cubans look down on Puerto Ricans. And why does Puerto Rico have a lucrative relationship with the United States?
Puerto Ricans were made American citizens in 1917 and many fought and died for the U.S. military, but islanders can't vote for president and have no vote in Congress. Puerto Ricans pay no U.S. income taxes but receive more than $13 billion in federal funds annually, including veterans' and other benefits.
Wow! What a deal that is! No taxation with no representation and they get money. Where can I sign up for a deal like that?
But some argue the relationship scars the psyche.
Scar away, Jose.
'We are neither here nor there,'' complains Carlos Pesquera, leader of the New Progressive Party, which wants the island to become the 51st U.S. state.
Why? Y'all got a great deal right now. Georgia should have a deal like that. Wanna trade?
The governor, on the other hand, is pushing for even more autonomy, saying Puerto Ricans ''have come along building our own destiny.''
Destiny. Shmestiny. You're getting $13 billion a year from the Feds. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Meanwhile, tax incentives that once lured U.S. companies are expiring, raising questions about the island's economic future. Unemployment officially stands at 12 percent but private economists say it's nearer 25 percent. In Manati, welfare recipients pick up benefits at an old tobacco warehouse.
But they can sleeep on the beaches and eat coconuts.
The colonial-era plaza where families strolled in Salgado's youth is now roamed by drug addicts and drunks, and Salgado keeps a .38-caliber pistol hidden under his guayabera shirt.
Uh. Oh. No gun control?
He says the young people driving past in Japanese cars with stereos blaring don't understand how hard it used to be. ''There was no light, no water, no nothing,'' he says.
And we had to walk ten miles to one room schools in raging hurricanes.
Salgado isn't particularly grateful to the United States, however, saying ''it had to give help'' for using Puerto Rico and its laborers and soldiers.
$13 billion a year ain't enough? Before my accident, I used to go sailing in the Virgin Islands. We chartered out of the British Virgin Islands. We used to sail down to the American Virgin Islands to do duty free shopping. One of the first buildings I saw, when arriving in Cruz Bay in St. John, was a Department of Social Security and Welfare office. Hey, we're back in America! The American Virgin Islands has ten times the population of the British Virgin Islands and lots more crime.
Oh, and back in the letters section they have a letter (third one down) from ISSAM NASHASHIBI of Dawsonville, Georgia a member of the religion of peaceTM.
Khaled Abou El Fadl has shown that he must have been asleep in his UCLA ivory tower by not noting the plethora of Muslim organizations that condemned terrorism, especially here in Georgia ("U.S. Muslims lax in decrying terrorism," @issue, July 18).
Issam, ol' buddy, I must have been asleep also, since I didn't see or hear the plethora of Muslim organizations that condemned terrorism, especially here in Georgia. Can you name me one? C'mon, just one.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is equally as guilty of promoting hatred and McCarthyism by accusing Muslims of not being patriotic enough.
Still didn't name just one. I guess it all depends on what your definition of plethora is. And we have that old standby, McCarthyism. And speaking of hatred, your religion of peaceTM spews more hatred than the AJC ever could. See Issam, we have tolerance in this country, unlike most Muslim countries. So don't start accusing us of promoting hatred and McCarthyism until your religion of peaceTM gets its act together.
I'm being good. I almost told Issam to f*** off.
And now here is a letter from a scientific sort, Jeff Joseph of Smyrna, Georgia.
Regarding the letter asking why Arab profiling doesn't make sense ("What's puzzling about Arab profiling?" July 23), I offer statistical and historical reasoning.
Bring it on. I'm a software engineer. I love scientific reasoning.
There are more than 1 billion Muslims on Earth. If one were to take a vastly stretched estimate and say that there were 100,000 terrorists among these Muslims, you would still find only one terrorist per 10,000 Muslims. This doesn't even get into the fact that most Arab-Americans are probably even less likely to be a possible terrorists.
Wow Jeff! You must have gone to Georgia Tech. I'm really impressed. Now here's some statistics for you. Out of the 19 September 11 hihackers, 19 were Muslims of Middle Eastern descent. There were no red headed Irish lassies. No 85 year old women in wheel chairs. Palestinians (You know - them Middle Eastern A-rab types) invented airplane hijackings. Over the years the majority of hihackings have been done by Middle Eastern men. How do you like those statistics, Jeffy boy?
Historically speaking, the United States approximated this same profiling during World War II by jailing Americans of Japanese ancestry. As a general rule we now regard this as a large mistake, since the vast majority of these people were patriotic Americans. The greatest testament on this that I can offer is that my father fought and killed Japanese soldiers during WWII, yet he was friends before and after the war with Japanese-Americans.
And that was a big mistake. But, we're not talking about putting Yussef and Mohammed in concentration camps. We're just asking them to put up with some additional bullshit before they get on an airplane. And there were a lot of patriotic Americans of Japanese descent (not Japanese-Americans as I refuse to use any hyphenated American bullshit) who joined the military and fought for this country. And I bet we didn't hear any 'root cause' bullshit for Pearl Harbor. Well, you got to realize that the steel embargo on Japan was causing a hardship. So let's have Yussef and Mohammed put up with the bullshit as a condition for living in the most free and tolerant nation on this planet. If grouchy old cripples were hijacking airplanes it wouldn't bother me a bit to be searched. It doesn't bother me now. I just think it's a stupid policy to ignore the people most statistically likely to hijack an airplane.
One must differentiate between enemies and friends --- and ethnicity will never tell you that.
Tell that to the people who died on September 11, Jeff.
And that's all from GOC Central for tonight.
I don't usually link to columns I agree with. I leave that to the linkers. I like to link to columns I can deconstruct or I can fisk. Today I make an exception. As Stephen Green would say, this is required reading.
I wish I had written that. I have attempted to write something like that in a few blogs, but he stated it so much better. I have a few things to add. There may be some adult language.
To the American followers of the religion of peaceTM. Are you Americans? Do you support this country? If so, how come there has not been a mass condemnation of September 11? And I do not want to hear any bullshit about Israel or 'root cause'. I'm sick of hearing about Israel and 'root cause'. The facts are that some radical members of your religion of peaceTM declared war on this country. The 'root cause' is they hate us and everything about us. Your goddam religion of peaceTM believes in killing innocent people. That is barbaric and beyond any civilized behavior. If your religion of peaceTM wants to declare war on this country do it by attacking military installations. You know, like Japan did in WWII. No, your religion of peaceTM only seems to be able to attack civilians.
And while I'm on this subject, if the American flag is objectionable to you get the fuck out of this country. This is America. During WWII, we had Americans of Japanese descent and Americans of German descent join the armed services to fight for this country. If you are Americans, prove it by fighting for this country. If you're here for jihad, get the fuck out of this country.
And another thing, you will follow the laws of this country. If the law says you have to have your driver's license picture taken without a veil, you will have the driver's license picture taken without the veil. That's how we identify you. 'But it's against my religion' you whine. 'Hey lady, in Saudi Arabia it's against your religion to drive. So do it, or don't drive. Next person in line please.'
This is the most tolerant nation on this planet. Evidence of this is the very low level of any kind of vandalism against mosques. Contrast that with what the members of your religion of peaceTM have done to synagogues throughout the world. I am really gettin sick of you assholes. Get with the program. We know there are terrorists here. You know there are terrorists here. Help us out. Do your part as Americans or get the fuck out of this country. And quit your fucking whining. It is making me sick to my stomach.
OK. I'm sorry for the diatribe and I'm sorry for the language, but we keep seeing these religion of peaceTM spokesmen on television whining about this and that and I have yet to see anyone condemn 9/11 without some disclaimers about 'root cause'. Deliberately targeting civilians is barbaric. Shooting little children in bed as they sleep is barbaric. And listening to the Palestinians bitching about the Israelis killing civilians Monday by buttheads who target civilians as their main strategy makes me want to puke. I hope the Palestinians never get a state. And they don't deserve one until they are willing to join the ranks of civilized human beings.
OK. I'm back to normal. Now, I want to talk about pilots and guns. The last time the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation had an editorial about pilots and guns I took it apart. Well here we go again. I'm sure this editorial was written by Cynthia Tucker. Cynthia is the editor of the editorial page and is very anti-gun.
In a sound bite, arming pilots sounds great: Give the pilots guns, and we'll all be safe.
I'll feel a hell of a lot safer if the pilots have guns. Hey, we agree, right?
The U.S. House of Representatives bought that line this month when it overwhelmingly passed a bill that would do just that. Now if the Senate would just pass the legislation, the House would have you believe, air passengers would be protected.
I'll be damned! Congress is actually doing one thing right! So far, so good.
Right. Would that it were so easy.
I dunno. Sounds easy to me. What's the problem Cynthia?
While Congress fools around with the issue of pilots and guns,
Fools around with the issue of guns? Haven't you been paying attention? The American public (Remember them? They're the voters.) and the pilots (You know. They're the guys and gals responsible for the safety of the aircraft and all the passengers) are overwhelming in favor of pilots with guns.
programs that would actually make the flying public safer -- air marshals on flights,
Air marshalls on flights? Do you know how many air marshalls would be required to put one on every single flight every single day? Where they gonna come from? Who's gonna pay for 'em all?
checked-baggage screening at every airport, better trained screeners for passengers and carry-on bags
But our screeners are professional. Don't you remember little Tommie Daschle saying 'to professionalize, you must federalize'? What a truckload of bullshit that was. Are we gonna start using common sense and concentrate on the people most likely to hijack planes? You know, the members of the religion of peaceTM Are we gonna ethnic profile or are we gonna continue searching Al Gore, Ray Charles, and my friend Cindy who is a small redhaired lady with green eyes? Yeah, lots of Irish lassies have been hijacking planes lately.
-- are miserably behind schedule. The agency charged with making new security measures a reality, the Transportation Security Administration, is foundering under impossible pressure.
So here's an idea. Let the pilots carry guns.
The TSA is charged with installing huge and expensive explosives detectors at 429 airports in order to screen all checked baggage by year's end. Meanwhile, by Nov. 19, it must hire 60,000 airport security officers.
Or just arm all the pilots.
Those deadlines cannot reasonably be met.
Captain Smith? Here's a gun. Only took 30 seconds.
Congress just cut the TSA's funding by $1 billion, and last week the undersecretary of transportation hired to carry out these programs -- former Secret Service head John W. Magaw -- was asked to resign amid criticisms that he was unresponsive to airlines and lawmakers,
Who want to arm pilots.
and that he and his agency were so preoccupied with meeting deadlines that the real work of improving the system was not getting done.
Yeah, and he was against arming pilots. And now clueless Minetta is actually considering arming pilots. Do you think that might have had sumpin' to do with his leaving?
Airport managers all over the country are screaming about the deadlines. "If that Dec. 31 deadline holds, you're going to see chaos out here," said Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport Manager Ben DeCosta. He strongly backs a one-year deadline extension included in the Homeland Security Administration act.
And while we're waiting, why don't we at least try arming pilots? We can do that right away.
Congress should drop the dubious notion of arming pilots and focus on fine-tuning security measures to make every passenger on every plane safer. While Congress should allow some flexibility with deadlines, it should also insist on unwavering support for installing the best security systems possible.
As far as I'm concerned, the best security system is rods in the hands of the guys up in the cockpit.
That's going to take thoughtful, reasonable debate and action -- not sound bites.
And the action I prefer is for Captain Smith to have a Glock.
Knock. Knock.
Who's there?
Mohammed.
Mohammed who?
Mohammed the terrorist.
Bang! Bang!
Mohammed the dead terrorist.
Today, I would like to talk about signs that your company might be in a little trouble. The company I work for, TCIDNN (The Company I Dare Not Name), has been budget cutting its way into prosperity for quite some time.
The first signs are subtle. Many technology companies, especially the ones with hardware on site, usually have first aid kits. When the first aid kits are empty, it is usually the first sign that cuts are coming. I was in Dallas on business about four years ago and called one of my friends who used to work for TCIDNN and who now works for Microsoft. He gave me a tour of his workplace and one of the first things he showed me was the well stocked first aid kits. He was really proud of the these as TCIDNN's first aid kits have been empty for years. Also, Microsoft has free soft drinks. One of these days, even Microsoft will fall on hard times, and the first signs of impending layoffs will be empty first aid kits and no more free soft drinks.
The next thing that happens is the gradual disappearance of secretaries and other administrative people. Usually, the jobs get outsourced. Often, as was the case at TCIDNN, the people quit working for TCIDNN and went to work for the outsourcing contractor. They did the same job and had the same desks. They just worked for a different company. But gradually they also just disappear. Hey! Where did Caroline go? Who? When you start getting more e-mails from your manager rather than a secretary, you know another secretary bit the dust. Bye Caroline. It was nice knowing you. Gonna miss you. Damn. Now I gotta figger out how to order my own business cards.
When you come in to work in the morning and your wastebasket is still full you just might want to start worrying. My sister told me at her company, they wanted the employees to start emptying their own wastebaskets. What's next? Here's a broom. Sweep the floor. Fortunately TCIDNN doesn't own any of its buildings so the landlord is reponsible for janitorial services. Our landlord is doing OK, so when I come in in the morning my desk is clean (at least the surface not covered with books and other crap) and my trash can is empty.
Another sign is massive reorganizations. For example, going from straight line management to matrix management, or going from matrix management to straight line management. I call this ploy musical managers. For those of you who don't know what matrix management is I'll explain. Matrix management, first of all, is a full employment program for managers. In matrix management, you have two types of managers: line of business managers and people managers. The line of business manager is responsible for managing whatever he is supposed to manage and tells the workers what to do. The people managers, who have no idea of what the people do, are responsible for evaluating the people. Matrix management supposedly allows the line of business manager to sharpen his focus on business rather than handling the mundane tasks of actually doing people related tasks like evaluation, career counseling, pay, and advancement. This was another one of the brilliant ideas thought up by MBA professors who have never worked in the private sector. They probably got a big laugh out of this one. I know. Matrix management. They fell for battling business units. I bet we can get them to fall for matrix management too. Pass me the bong. My sister worked for a matrix manager for over a year and never once met him.
Usually, the musical manager program is instituted right after or right before a big round of layoffs. When it happens before, people get lost (laid off) in the reorganization, but managers keep their jobs. When it happens after layoffs occur, a management group is not totally eliminated, so they cannot really decide which manager is gonna be laid off. So, they reorganize, and the manager who hasn't appropriately sucked up to his boss, gets lost in the shuffle. Often times all the managers make the cut. Even so, proportionally, more workers leave than managers. Just remember the managers' motto, as expressed by Governor Le Petomane in Blazing Saddles 'We gotta protect our phoney-baloney jobs, gentlemen'.
Another sign is office consolidation or people shuffle. In this case, they start having people double up in offices or making cubicles smaller. We're going through that now at TCIDNN. I share a small office with one other person. He spends half his time on the road, so I have the office to myself a lot. Our building has been somewhat vacant since the last round of skill rebalancing (That's what we call layoffs at TCIDNN), so we've been overdue for a mass influx of people. It's starting next week. I get to move into an office with my team lead. The nice thing about the office I'm moving into is it has a window which my current office does not. The bad thing is moving. I'm a systems programmer, and although my system work is very anal retentive, I'm a slob. Scott Adams described me perfectly in his book The Joy of Work when he wrote about a techno prima donna. We're slobs. We have books everywhere. We're packrats. Also, people hate to share offices and cubicles with us because we are slobs and gradually encroach upon their space. It works. My two previous office mates left in disgust. The only reason my current office mate tolerates me is technically he is a mobile employee and is not even supposed to have an office, so living with me is better than living in the mobility center. I've been in my current office for over six years so I have accumulated a lot of books and other junk. I'm supposed to move next week, so I'm going through my stuff now to see what gets thrown away. At least this should be my last move at TCIDNN. I'm filling up trashcans with lots of shit. Hope they get emptied.
If I were a TCIDNN employee and found out that I was moving into this building I would be very afraid. Be very, very afraid. I have worked in this building for over seventeen years, and in the last four years this building has become a way station to skill rebalancing. All of a sudden, all the cubicles fill up. Then, mysteriously, they start emptying up as the skill rebalancing process takes its toll. Soon the building becomes a mausoleum.
Do you have a company supplied cafeteria? Here is a real harbinger of bad times to come. When I first moved into this building we had a wonderful cafeteria. It was company subsidized. The food was good and the prices were reasonable. We also ate off of real plates and used real silverware. People came from other TCIDNN sites to eat here because of the quality of our cafeteria. Ahhhh, those were the good old days. First, TCIDNN quit subsidizing so the prices went up. OK. We'll pay more. The food is still good. The service is still good. Then they changed vendors. I got in trouble about this time. I wisecracked to one of the secretaries (we still had 'em then) about how the Admin Manager had solved the long lines at the cafeteria. She changed vendors. The cafeteria sucked. No one from other buildings came any more. She overheard me and told my manager. This was about fourteen years ago. I was a smartass back then. Haven't changed. Anyway, after changing vendors the prices went up more. Food quality went down. Then the dishes and silverware were replaced by styrofoam containers and plastic knives, forks, and spoons. Ain't gonna hijack this cafeteria anywhere.
When he's in town, my officemate and I go down to the cafeteria in the morning to get coffee and relax before starting work. About two weeks ago, we got our coffee and noticed that there were no napkins, only paper towels like the ones used in the restrooms. Things must really be getting bad. They're stealing paper towels from the johns. My officemate said to me, 'It's only gonna be a matter of time before they move all the stuff (knives, forks, spoons, plates, napkins and the like) to the other side of the cash register and charge us for them too.' As it is, they charge for cups. Ten cents. I said, 'No cafeteria would be that cheap.' No? I was wrong. One of my readers sent me the following:
Penny wise and pound foolish. Briefly the cafeteria decided to control costs by discouraging napkin wastage. They put all the napkin dispensers inside the food area so one had to get napkins and THEN pass the cashiers and they started charging a penny a napkin for any napkin more than the first 2. This STOOOPID program ended when people started showing up at the cashiers with huge stacks of napkins. The cashiers would say please count them and we, I mean, the patrons would say you want 'em counted, you count 'em, and the cashiers informed management this program was over.
Just when you think it can't get any stoopider.
Anyway, I was wrong. They were just out of napkins at our cafeteria. The dispensers reappeared the next day.
So be advised. If your first aid kits are empty, cubicles get smaller, people disappear, you have to empty your own wastebaskets and the cafeteria steals paper towels from the johns, get your resume ready.
It's only a matter of time.
On Sunday mornings I like to lie in bed and read the morning paper while listening to classical music on my local National Proletariat Radio station. Yesterday, when I came to the Opinion section, I was surprised, because, once again I agreed with Cynthia Tucker on sumpin'. Her column was about Social Security and prescription drugs for seniors. She's a liberal and was against the Democrat's bill. Frankly, I was shocked. But that's not what I want to talk about so I'm not linking to it.
No, I want to talk about an article that was in the AJC on July 14, called Could Mr. Right be White about black women dating white men. Oh boy! Interracial dating. That's gonna get the racist bigots stirred up! And it did. The AJC published three letters on it. Here's the link.
Nathan McCall of Atlanta writes:
As a journalism instructor, I found the recent article on black women dating white men to be appallingly racist and typically shallow ("Could Mr. Right be white?" Features, July 14). It's one thing to say that some black women date white men because there is a shortage of available black men. It's quite another to suggest that the very group that created and perpetuated that shortage --- white men --- are also the most sensitive and romantic people on God's great earth. Please.
So, it sounds to me that for some reason Nathan thinks it is the fault of white men that there is a shortage of black men. No reasons given. Just a statement with no facts. I'm assuming he's saying that there is a shortage of black men because they're in prison. So, if that is the case, the high crime rate in the inner city is the fault of white men. The high drug use in the inner city is the fault of white men. Well, yeah, according to Maxine Waters, the crack epidemic is a CIA plot. Hi Jamal. I'm from the CIA. Here's some crack.
Well maybe poverty is the problem. Yeah - that's the ticket. And we all know that poverty in the inner city is the fault of white men. Those mean old Republicans want to starve the poor and keep 'em in poverty. I'm here to tell you that throwing money at poverty will not solve it. We've thrown $5 trillion at it and we still have it.
In a previous post I gave a roadmap on how any person in this country of reasonable health and of reasonable intelligence could rise above poverty and live very well. Three steps:
Unfortunately, the most important thing needed to rise above poverty, education, sucks. Our education system is broken and needs repair. It's not gonna be the teachers unions that repair it because they are part of the problem. And the NAACP opposes vouchers, even though 60% of blacks polled, prefer vouchers. The Democrats want to keep blacks dumb and dependent on the government. That's a disgrace. But, I digress. Back to Nathan.
As a journalist, I know reporters can find someone to say virtually anything to support a point. And I would have no trouble doing the reverse --- find women to testify that white men are insecure, and that given a dating choice between an all-you-can-eat crab legs special and an evening at the museum, white men will opt for Red Lobster every time.
Yeah, Nathan. Just love them crab legs. This is disgusting. Substitute black for white and fried chicken for crab legs and tell me just how racist and bigoted this sounds. And this bastard teaches journalism? Now we know why so many journalists vote Democrat. They're freaking bigoted idiots!
And let's not even talk about the headline, an obvious throwback to the supremacist views that "white is right."
I didn't get that impression at all. But that is because I'm not looking for racism in everything I read. I never realized the AJC was racist. I hope someone tells Cynthia Tucker about that. Cynthia, by the way, is the editor of the editorial page and is black. Nathan is an example of someone who is just looking for for examples of racism. I wonder how he feels when he sees ads for white sales?
Reading stories such as this actually makes me grateful for Jerry Springer and Ricky Lake. As insane as their programs are, at least they demonstrate that human frailties are as much a reality for whites as for anyone else.
Nathan, I think you've been watching too much Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake. And, wouldn't you think a Journalism professor would know enough to spell Ricki Lake correctly?
Nathan's letter was amusing. Curtis Lake's letter was full of vitriol and blatant racism.
Black women who date the 'enemy' are fools
Nothing like some mean spirited name calling to start off a letter. White men are the enemy. Bitches be fools.
I just want to clear up this foolishness once and for all: If you are a black female, your "Mr. Right" is not white. He is black like you.
Tell 'em Curtis! Keep dem bitches in the 'hood! Now tell 'em why.
White folks are our enemy. How can black females stoop so low as to engage in intimate relations with the people who forcibly took us from our homeland and slaughtered, raped and enslaved our ancestors?
Here we go with the slaveryTM thing again. OK. Let's talk about it.
Black people do not have the franchise on slaveryTM even though they like to think so. SlaveryTM has been in existence since the beginning of time. Every culture up until a few hundred years ago had slaves. It was the mean old white Europeans who abolished slaveryTM. Many white men in this country died in a bloody civil war to abolish slaveryTM. And, unlike what we saw in Roots, it wasn't the white man who captured the blacks to drag them off into slaveryTM. They were captured and sold by their black brothers, so you may want to take up some of this slaughtered and raped stuff with some people in Africa. And guess where slaveryTM still exists? In Africa. And guess who the slave owners are? African blacks. Yeah, slaveryTM was a blight on this country's history, but it's over, and right now, blacks in this country have more freedoms and a higher standard of living than black people in any other country on this planet. So shut your freaking mouth and be glad that you had the good fortune to be born here and not in Africa.
Stop lusting and think. There are no "good" white folks. Black females who date white men only make themselves look like fools.
See, all white folks are evil racist bastards. Curtis, you are a racist bigoted jerk! Here again, substitute white for black in this letter and there would be massive protests in front of the AJC's offices. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would be in town fighting each other to get in front of the cameras bemoaning the fact that the newspaper could publish a letter like this. By golly, the editor who allowed this letter to be published should be fired or forced to go through massive diversity awareness training.
The last letter by Doug Forbes of Indianapolis is just laughable.
Colorblind mating is not for the birds
Implicit in the recent article on interracial dating is the view that racial preference
in mate selection is the result of segregation. I suggest that it is vice versa.
Consider this:
During the last Ice Age, a species of bird lived in the north Pacific region. One
branch of this species spread westward across Eurasia. Another branch spread
eastward across North America. When they met again in Europe thousands of
years later, they had developed physical differences. In other words, they had
become two subspecies; i.e., races of the same species. One race, the Lesser
Black-backed Gulls, has dark backs and yellow legs. The other race, the Herring
Gulls, has pale backs and flesh colored legs.
I'm just waiting for someone to complain that the naming of the Lesser Black-back Gull is racist. Nathan has probably already composed his letter.
Physical divergence beyond a certain point will diminish sexual attraction. Such
is the case with the Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backs. Although they have
overlapping breeding grounds, they remain distinct. Normally, they do not
interbreed.
Because mate selection and child rearing constitute much of the social life of
birds, racial preference in mate selection results in racial segregation generally.
Essentially, the two subspecies lead separate lives within the same geographic
area.
But Doug, we aren't birds.
OK What do I thin?. I'm all for interracial relationships. I'm for integration. Believe it or not, I'm not a racist bigot. I despise people who are. People like Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters, Al Sharpton, and their new friend Curtis Lake make me sick. Multiculturism makes me gag. What a crock that is. Ya wannna see multiculturism in action? Go to the Balkans. That's what the liberals want for us. This is America. We are Americans. We're not African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Asian-Americans, or any other hyphenated Americans. And another thing. I was born here so I am a native American.
But, but, you gotta be a racist. You're always poking fun at black people like Cynthia McKinney. Yeah, Cynthia would be funny if she weren't so dangerous. I poke fun at Cynthia because she is a disgrace. She, like many other black leaders, do more harm to their people than the KKK ever could. By blaming white people for all their problems and fostering dependency on government, they keep them poor and ignorant. A fine example of that is Curtis Lake, who is probably one of Cynthia's constituents. All I can do is shake my head and wonder why.
I don't know how Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters and all the other black 'leaders' can sleep at night. I guess if one gets enough money, selling out one's followers must be easy.
I couldn't do it.
I was not planning on posting today, but I got the following from alert reader Randolph Addison:
I have the impression that Arab news was, unsurprisingly, duped. Best of the Web Scroll down to "The Cynthia McKinney Fan Club" (4th entry). [The Chinese recently reported an article from The Onion as legitimate US news and then vilified The Onion, stating that they were purposely put out propaganda to trick people. Uh huh.]
When doing my fisking, I also thought this was too good to be true. And usually, if sumpin' sounds too good to be true, then by golly it is too good to be true. I also thought Democrats.com was too good to be true. Since, I have absolutely no journalistic integrity, not to mention being very lazy, I did not check out the veracity of the Ode to Cynthia Even, if it wasn't true, it still offered me an excellent opportunity to have a little fun. Well, boys and girls, I did a little Google (Every time I use Google, I always think of Carl Sagan. He used a term in Cosmos called googleplex.) search on Israel Shamir and here is what I came up with. Excerpts follow.
Israel Shamir is a leading Russian-Israeli intellectual, writer, translator and journalist.
Don't forget Palestinian apologist.
After returning to Israel in 1980, Shamir wrote for the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz and Al Hamishmar newspapers and worked in the Knesset as the spokesman for the Israel Socialist Party (Mapam).
Aha! A socialist. That's why he likes Cynthia McKinney and Barbara Lee.
He also translated selected chapters of Joyce’s Ulysses, (into Russian)
Joyce's Ulysses is dull and boring enough in English. Imagine how dull it must be in Russian.
His most popular work, the Pine and the Olive, the story of Palestine/Israel, was published in 1988. Its cover carried a painting by the Ramallah painter, Nabil Anani. As the first Palestinian Intifada began, Shamir had left Israel for Russia, where he covered the eventful years 1989-1993. While in Moscow, he reported for Haaretz, but was sacked for publishing an article calling to the return the Palestinian refugees and the rebuilding of their ruined villages.
See. Even back then he was an Uncle Yasser.
He wrote for various Russian newspapers and magazines, including Pravda and Zavtra weekly. In 1993, he returned to Israel and settled in Jaffa.
Wouldn't it be ironic if he got nailed (pun intended) by a homicide bomber?
In response to the second Palestinian uprising in thirteen years, Shamir has
temporarily abandoned his literary occupation and resumed his work as a propagandist journalist. In the midst of all the endless talk of a "
Two State solution", Shamir, along with Edward Said, has become a leading
champion of the ‘One Man, One Vote, One State’ solution in all of
Palestine/Israel.
Which, anyone with half a brain would realize, that would sound the death knell for Israel. There would be a mass expulsion of Jews. Can't you just imagine Cynthia McKinney screaming to high heaven if we had a massive influx of Jewish immigrants.
His most recent essays have been circulating widely on the Internet
And providing blogging fodder for people like me who just love to ridicule loonies.
and are now posted on many prominent media sites.
Which makes 'em easy to find. Just Google Israel Shamir.
With every new article, Shamir is establishing himself as a propagandist journalist whose work speaks to the aspirations of both the Arab world
Israelis and the Palestinians.
Mass suicide for the Israelis. Killing and looting by the Arabs.
His most recent works include Acid Test, Rape of Dulcinea, Galilee Flowers, Joseph Revisited and Kid Sister.
I'll have to see if Amazon carries 'em. Must be fantastic reading.
Shamir (50) lives in Jaffa, he is father of two sons.
Izzy. Stay away from the bombers.
And now, another example of the wit and wisdom of Israel Shamir called Why I Support the Return of the Palestinians (or Why I Support Israeli Suicide).
Palestine is not a dead object, it is a living country.
Full of suicide bombers.
Palestinians are her soul.
Some soul. A people with unbelievable hatred for another race. We haven't seen hatred like this since Nazi Germany. And we want to give these people a state? We fought WWII to defeat a state like this. Palestinians are soulless nihilists.
Palestine is what Palestinians are re-creating in real time,
Hatred and killing.
in the same way that France is what the French create and re-create every day.
Now there's a great comparison. The French? If only the Palestinians were more like the French. Here Mr. Sharon. Here's all of our bombs and weapons. We surrender. Please don't hurt us. Have some cheese.
It is a vast confusion of mind, to presume one can love France and abhor French,
I don't know. I have no problems with that. The French abhor us, and many of us abhor them. Ever been to Paris? Neat city. Rude inhabitiants. Sacre bleu! Ze Americans zey are barbarians.
as what kind of France would exist without the French soul.
A nicer place to visit?
Only silly tourists from rich countries, pestered by beggars, prefer to stay in reclusive posh hotels where they can enjoy the country without encountering the natives.
In France this would be a bad thing because...
It is like loving a beautiful lady but hating her character and her very essence. To love a country and wish away her inhabitants is the kind of romance that can only appeal to those who have a passion for necrophilia.
No, actually that's the way it works in France. At least in Paris. When ya get outside of Paris the French are not nearly as snotty. And the Palestinians love the land that Israel sits on and have spent the last 54 years wishing the Jews away.
The late Russian thinker Lev Gumilev described a country as a symbiosis of people and landscape. Palestine and Palestinians are inseparable, the peasants and their olives and springs of water and the mountains and the domes of the ancestral sepulchres on the hill-tops need each other and have grown to complement each other.
He left out the bombs and the AK47's. Hold on, we're getting to the good parts.
The Palestinians are not an obscure mean folk.
No. They're a bunch of cowardly murderous bastards.
They created the Star of Ghassul,
An eight pointed star unearthed at Ghassul. I looked it up. For more info.
wrote the Bible,
Funny. I thought the Jews did that. At least the Old Testament. Even Christians admit that.
built the temples of Jerusalem and Garizim,
The Jews.
the palaces of Jericho and Samaria, the churches of the Holy Sepulchre and Nativity, the mosques of Haram a-Sharif,
I'll give him that.
the harbours of Caesarea and Akka,
The Romans. 'What have the Romans ever done for us?'
the castles of Monfort and Belvoir.
Thought that was the Crusaders.
They walked with Jesus, defeated Napoleon and bravely fought at Karameh. In their veins, the blood of Aegean warriors, Bene Israel, David's heroes, the first Apostles of Christ and Companions of the Prophet, of Arab riders, Norman Crusaders and Turkmen chieftains blended in the unique composition.
I'm really impressed. Izzy's laying it on real thick.
Its spark did not run out: the poetry of Mahmud Darwish, the wisdom of Edward Said,
The wisdom of Edward Said? What? The freaking wisdom of freaking Edward Said? Excuse me. I gotta take a break before I use foul language or pound on my keyboard too hard.
the perfect olive oil, the fervour of prayers
Death to the Jews!
and the valiant courage of intifada prove it.
Yeah. It takes a lot of courage to shoot an eight year old girl when she's asleep in her bed. Charles Johnson thought this guy was on heroin. I thought he was on LSD. I think he's moved on to some new and different mind altering drug. But wait. It gets better.
Without the Palestinians, Palestine dies.
The Palestinians are doin' a pretty good job of dying with Palestine.
Her rivers run poisoned water,
Yeah. That's what Suhu Arafat said right before Hillary kissed her.
the sources dry out, the hills and valleys are disfigured, her fields are worked by imported Chinese, while her sons are imprisoned in ghetto.
They are only in a 'ghetto' because they refuse to live in a peaceful coexistence with Israel. Over the past 54 years since Israel was created, the sole purpose of the Palestinians has been the total destruction of Israel. It's in the PLO charter. They never got around to changing it after Oslo. Izzy, when you were doing all those translations did you ever read any real history?
The idea of a separate Jewish state collapsed.
Huh? It never collapsed in Israel and the idea never existed in the Arab world so how could it have collapsed?
During last ten years, the mad policies of Israeli
Called self defense.
government imported over a million of Romanians, Russians, Ukrainians, Thai and African laborers.
They can't employ Palestinians. They have this annoying habit of blowing up.
Some of them claim Jewish descent: Peruvian tribes, Indians from Assam and the endless refugees from the Soviet Union moved in.
That's because they were being persecuted were they used to live. Many of the refugees came from Muslim countries where the 'religion of peace' were killin' 'em off. And Izzy, you were born in Siberia. You must be one of the 'endless refugees from the Soviet Union'.
Now the Jewish Agency plans to import a Lembda tribe from the South Africa, in order to ensure the Jewish character of the state.
Goddamn Arabs multiply faster than rabbits. I cannot understand why the Arabs can't be a little more patient. At the rate they're going, the Israeli Arabs are gonna outnumber the Jews in 20 to 30 years. If you're still alive then Izzy, you'll find out how neat it will be to live in a state run by the Palestinians. At least until they take away all your possessions and kick you out. 'But. But. I'm your friend.' 'You're a dirty Jew. Get out of our country.'
Paradoxically, those who still bear some part of the Jewish traditions are isolated in the Jewish state, as late Dr Yeshayahu Leibovich or imprisoned as the Moroccan Jewish Rabbi Arie Der'i.
You got me on these Izzy and I'm too lazy to look them up. Maybe some other blogger will. But, your credibilty is not very good.
The fantasy of the Jewish ingathering has collided with the reality.
Yeah. The Arabs hate the Jews. They want to kill 'em all or drive them into the sea. They've been saying that for over 50 years. Haven't you been listening, Izzy? Those are really powerful drugs you're on. You need to be real careful. This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?
We must end the delusion.
Funny that he uses the word delusion, since he, himself is so delusional.
Let the sons and daughters of Palestine come back and rebuild Suba and Kakun, Jaffa and Akka.
They can't. They're too busy making bombs and blowing themselves up.
Instead of consecrating the Green Line, let us erase it and live together, the children of Palestine, of first settlers, of Moroccans and Russians.
Let the lamb lie down with the lion. Give peace a chance. Kumbaya.
We should live in one state, not only because of the blatant failure of Oslo.
He finally got sumpin' right. Not the one state part, as that would be a disaster, but the failure of Oslo. As James Taranto is fond of saying, Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.
The very idea of partition is wrong.
I agree. Let's round up the Palestinans and move 'em all to the Gaza Strip. Hey Yasser. Here's your state. Don't forget your baby wipes!
We can follow the example of New Zealand, where the European incomers live together with the native Maori,
Ya see, the Maoris don't blow up. And anyway, that's a bad example. When the Arabs outnumber the Jews, they'll do exactly what they have done in every Arab country. They'll take all their possessions and expel them.
the example of Mandela's South Africa,
Mugabe's Zimbabwe.
the example of Caribbean, where children of Spanish settlers, African slaves and native Amerindians blended into the beautiful new race.
Got some news for ya Ziggy. The native Amerindians in the Caribbean all died of European diseases or were slaughtered by the Spanish.
Let us tear up our Declarations of false Independence and write a new one, of mutual dependence and love.
Of suicide and the total destruction of Israel.
Mr Quisling, Mr Vichy, meet Mr. Shamir. Y'all got a lot in common.
Hold me back! Hold me back! My sister asked me today when I was gonna fisk someone again, and, like a miracle this (link courtesy of Charles Johnson) appears. Charles already did a pretty good job, but, I cannot resist the temptation of piling on. Here goes.
Things must be bad indeed if a woman steps forward to the line of fire.
And things are really bad. We're gonna find out why.
When France was fading away,
Which time was that? It's happened so many times. Hi. I'm French. I surrender. Here, take my rifle.
a shepherd girl Jeanne d'Arc took a heavy sword and led the flower of French nobles to assault the walls of Orleans.
Oh, that time. Even then the French were pansies. And then he goes on to give some more examples of brave and heroic women. And now, some America bashing follows.
Now it is the turn of the US to feel the chilly wind of eternity on its face.
Brrrr! Where's my coat?
It came from unexpected direction. People of Saudi Arabia America became hostage in the hands of a few men with too many dollars in their pockets and endless greed in their hearts. For millennia,
For millennia? Isn't that 1000 years. He can't be talking about us. We've only been oppressing Cynthia's people for 400 years.
the difference of income, education, and standard of living was not so vast in one land. The wealth of the nation could provide every Saudi American with a superb education, perfect medical care, happy childhood, secure old age, guaranteed home, and free time to open one's mind to new thoughts and old friends. Saudi Arabia America could be on its way to the Golden Age of universal happiness and wisdom.
See how easy Saudi Arabia works?
Instead of it, a small group of men squeezes the nation in order to add another billion to their coffers.
Sounds like the Saudi royal family to me.
They would surely destroy Saudi Arabia the US by their limitless greed.
Now, I know he's talking about the Saudi royal family.
The devotees of radical Islam Mammon, they are totally devoid of compassion to the people they live amongst. They do not see the local people as 'their own kind'. If they want to show compassion, they send money toPalestine Israel. Out of five dollars the Saudi royal family American taxpayer gives for aid, four dollars land in the coffers of the thugs in Palestine Jewish state. They appear unstoppable, as the politicians are scared of them and docilely raise their hands and sign the pledge promising to send more money to Yasser Arafat and his thugs Israeli generals. Support of Palestine Israel is not a foreign policy. It is the covenant of radical Islam Mammonites, and you sign it with blood. With Israeli and American Palestinian blood.
This guy is a real wacko. And here comes the best part.
But one woman refused to sign the pledge. One woman, Cynthia McKinney, a member for Georgia, dared to refuse.
And I live in her district. I'm so proud.
Four hundred congressmen signed it; they preferred their own personal advancement to the good of the country.
No Izzy, you butthead. Unlike the Arab world, this is a republic, and the people are sick of Arab booger eatin' moh-rons. We're still pissed about 9/11.
Ancestors of Cynthia were slaves in her native Georgia.
Yeah we know. She keeps reminding us of it.
But she is one of a very few free persons in the US Congress.
Excuse me Congressman Barr, I just heard from Izzy that you were a slave. Is that true?
As we Israelis were used to say about our Golda Meir, she is the only man over there.
This guy is an Israeli?
She is a black woman, but she is the whitest man of them all, they would say before the Politically Correct era.
Izzy, you better not call her white to her face. She hates white people almost as much as she hates Jews.
She knew the billions of Israeli aid are needed for the poor people of the United States, for her own Afro-American community.
Nothing about the billions of aid sent to Egypt.
She wanted to uphold the sovereignty of the people and congress of the United States, in face of encroaching servility to the Jewish Lobby.
Oh my God! The Jews run everything! Where is Pat Buchanen when we need him?
She is not alone. Another wonderful Afro-American congresswoman, Barbara Lee,
One of the few people in Congress who's a bigger communist than Cynthia. She represents the Peoples Republic of Berkeley.
cast the only vote against the slaughter in Afghanistan;
What's the latest bogus civilian body count? 3000? 4000? Just think how many we could have 'slaughtered' if we had been trying.
John Conyers, Jessie (sic) Jackson Jr, and Maxine Waters supported the cause of Palestine on different occasions.
Duh! Most liberal blacks are anti-semites. I've never been able to figger that out since there were a lot of Jews who went to the South to help out during the civil rights movement.
Ron Paul of Texas voted against all-house resolution sending obsequious greeting to General Sharon. Nick Rahall, John Sununu, David Bonior did not bend.
Don't have a clue as to what he is talking about here. Somehow, I don't think he does either. He must have just dropped some more acid. OK. Do not drink anything for the next paragraph. I am not responsible for liquid spraying on you terminal.
Cynthia was just more outspoken in seeing the evil.
Outspoken? That's a freakin' understatement! She won't shut her freakin' mouth!
She said[i], "There are many Members of Congress who want to be free. I am one of them.
SlaveryTM ended 150 years ago Cynthia. It's old news. Let's move on.
I wanted to be free to vote according to my conscience, but I had been told that if I didn't sign a pledge supporting the military superiority of Israel, no support would come my way.
Except from Arabs and Muslims.
And sure enough, I didn't sign the pledge and no support came my way.
Except from Arabs and Muslims. Over 1/3 of her campaign contributions came from Arabs and Muslims from outside her district. Wanna see a list? Go here.
I suffered
Not as much as I did living in your district.
silently
Oh how I wish it were silently. But she will never shut her big fat mouth.
year in and year out, because I refused to sign that pledge.
But, somehow, she kept getting reelected. Some suffering.
And then, like a slave that found a way to buy his freedom
Always gotta get slaveryTM in there.
... I went to work
I bet that was a new experience.
... I wanted to be free
Must be interesting to be a slave who makes $150,000 per year. And that's before the bribes.
... Free to cast the votes in the United States Congress as I saw fit and not as I was dictated to".
Hi Cynthia, my name is Irving. I'm the head of the World Domination Zionist OrganizationTM. Vote the way we tell ya or it's off to the cotton fields with ya.
Now she stands for re-election, and her chances are dim,
Be still my beating heart!
as the frightful World Domination Zionist OrganizationTM AIPAC,
the spearhead of the organized Jewish community, targeted her. They do not
want to see independent and free congressmen on the Capitol Hill.
Actually, they, like most rational Americans, don't want to see racist, bigoted anti-semites on Capitol Hill.
Their huge financial might, network of connections in the media and universities are used to smother every free voice.
Let's see. The New York Times. CNNABCCBSNBC. And we all know how pro Israel Peter Jennings is. And we really have problems in the universities. I mean look at how pro Israel they are at Berkeley.
They succeeded to unseat Earl Hilliard, another racist bigot
Black Congressman, who did not bow to Sharon, and now plan to do Cynthia in.
Please! Please! Please! I'm gonna do my part. I'm voting in the Democratic primary.
If they succeed, the cause of racist bigotry freedom will suffer a huge
setback. If she succeeds, the myth of Jewish omnipotence will evaporate,
and America will look towards better days, as support or rejection of
segregated Israel speaks volumes about true agenda of a candidate.
Better days will be when we wipe radical Islamic terrorism off the face of the earth.
Cynthia is not 'against Jews',
If you knew Cynthia, like I know Cynthia. Oh. Oh. Oh what a racist.
as there are many very good folks of Jewish origin.
Not to Cynthia. She hates all Jews. She got it from her daddy, Billy.
While the organized Jewish community implements quite a disgusting policy, in domestic and foreign affairs alike,
Yeah. Like trying to keep the nation of Israel from being overrun by a bunch of bloodthirsty Palestinians. Guess, you haven't noticed all the bombs going off.
there are wonderful outsiders, 'the remnant of Israel'.
Just musing here. If blacks call someone they think is acting white an Uncle Tom, what would these outsiders be called? Uncle Yassers?
Rejected by the community and rejecting it, they stand for suicide integration in Palestine and in the US.
Uh, Izzy, we have integration in the US. And there is integration in Israel. It is ironic that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Arabs can actually vote.
Some of them have supported Cynthia's campaign;
Some Jews even supported Hitler. They realized too late what a mistake that was. There are dumb people everywhere.
another outsider manages her campaign.
That, I cannot comment on. I tried to find out who her campaign manager was. It's possible. If so, he/she must be an Uncle Yasser. Skipping down through some garbage we come to.
Cynthia's is not a divisive voice of Blacks vs. Whites, nor Democrats vs. Republicans, neither Left against Right
Izzy, if you had any credibility at all, it's now been completely shredded. She's a racist, partisan Democrat and a communist to boot. Scotty, beam Izzy up. We're getting close to the end, but put your feet up because it's gonna get real deep.
This woman with a name from the love lyrics of Propertius, the delicate Greek poet, who called himself 'a pale knight in thrall of my angry Cynthia', is an all-American figure, brought forth by the spirit of America.
See. What'd I tell ya?
The great country does not want to die. In such moments, the land calls for its sons and daughters to step forward to the line of fire.
And whom do we get?
Cynthia heard the call.
Hark! I detect a fanfare of trumpets. The sky opens. The sun shines through. Cynthia stands alone, sword in hand, ready to smite the evil Jews.
Support of Cynthia is the ultimate test of love to America,
Man, can I have some of that shit you're smoking?
of belief in America's future in the family of nations, as an equal and friendly nation,
We ain't equal. We're the only super power and we're friendly as long as people don't mess with us.
not as an enforcer for creed of Greed.
Saudi Arabia is much more greedy than we are. And, wouldn't Creed of Greed be a neat name for a rock band? With apologies to Dave Barry.
It is paramount to rally around her, as the French nobles rallied to Jeanne d'Arc.
Was that before or after the retreat?
Whether you are a descendant of African slaves or Muslim immigrants,
You be Cynthia's folks. Praise Allah!
a son of Confederacy
Not a likely Cynthia supporter.
or a Daughter of American Revolution,
Even less likely.
a freedom-loving Jew
No freakin' way!
or a born-again Christian.
Not even close.
- it is the time to unite for Cynthia and for America.
Amen brother! Call the Vatican! Wake up the Pope!
Let's hear it for Sainte Cynthia d'Arc!
It finally happened. I don't have anything to write about. Actually, I do, but it's already 10:00 PM and any of my good rants, and I still have a few, would take a few hours to write, and I don't really want to stay up past midnight.
I did get some good news. I signed up with bloghop to have people rate my blogs and I got two people who hated me. Now, if I could only get some of the haters to write me some hate mail. I want hate mail! So far, the ratings are running 16 love it and 2 hate it. If people hate what I write, I'm probably pissing them off. If so, then I consider myself a success. I want to piss people off. I want to make people think.
I did hear from my sister about yesterday's blog. 'You use too much dirty language.' I know and I'm really trying to watch that. It's just that some of my screeds just write themselves. When I sat down at my PC last night, I planned on writing a nice reasoned discourse about how everyone is just so durned sensitive in this country. It's like 'Hmmm. I think I want to be offended. Let's see if I can find anything in what someone says to piss me off.' The prime example is the fuss in Washington DC about the guy who described a budget as niggardly and oh boy were there a bunch of people offended about that. Hey guys, look the word up in the dictionary and look at the root. It has absolutely nothing to do with nigger. Oh no! GOC, you used the 'n word'! You are a racist pig! Actually, I'm not, but if anyone reading this thinks I am, you're entitled to your own opinion. Anyway, once I started on that booger eatin' moh-ron, Michael Newdow, I just got carried away.
Another offensive word going around now is picnic. Do you know why? It seems that it came from when there was a lynching of a black and people took lunch and had a party. Hello! I'm sorry, but this is a real stretch. Picnic came from the French word piquenique, and has absolutely nothing to do with lynching. C'mon, let's get a grip here.
I'm not denying that racism exists in this country, but looking for it in anything said by a white person is getting ridiculous. Not all white people are ignorant racists, just like not all black people are ignorant racists. You know, people like Cynthia McKinney. When talking around blacks now, you have to watch everything you say. I mean, if you say 'Boy, it sure is hot today.', the next thing you hear is 'Don't call me boy!' 'Huh? I'm sorry. I wasn't even talking to you. I was just making an observation about the weather.' I know that white racist mf's used to call black men boy, but if I say 'Boy, it's hot!' can't you realize I'm not calling you boy? I'm trying to be careful, but don't assume anything I say is racist.
And here we come to the Confederate flag. I'm so glad that the NAACP has solved all the problems in the black community. They've eradicated the high drug use. They've solved the anti-achievement mentality (You be acting white!). The illegitimacy rate is down under 80% and poverty has been eliminated. Since all that trivial stuff has been fixed, now they can work on the really important things, like the Confederate flag.
Let me say that there are bozos on both sides of this issue. Back during the civil rights era, the white bigots in Georgia changed the state flag and incorporated the Confederate flag into the design. Yeah, it was a poke in the eye to black folks. A few years ago, the NAACP and other black organizations started declaring war on the Confederate flag and Georgia was one of the first places they started. Boycotts were threatened. No Super Bowl. No NBA all star game. Things like that. Last year, the Georgia Legislature, along with the Governor worked out a secret deal to change the flag and we now have a new flag. So now all the racist white bigots are up in arms. We're gonna make it a campaign issue. We're gonna throw the Governor out of office. Hey! Listen up! It was a stupid issue with the old flag. It's a stupid issue with the new flag. It's a freaking piece of cloth! Give it a rest!
Now we go to South Carolina. The Confederate flag used to fly on top of the statehouse. Enter the NAACP. Enter Jesse Jackson. Boycotts were threatened. Boycotts were implemented. Many of the people hurt by the boycotts were black businesses, but that didn't matter. That freaking flag was causing poverty, drug use, black on black crime. If we just get that flag down all our problens will be solved. Eventually a compromise was worked out. The flag would come down off the top of the state house and would be removed to a Confederate War Memorial on the statehouse grounds. Problem solved. Uh, not really. They're baaack! More boycotts threatened. This is just so ridiculous! And look. I haven't used a single dirty word yet.
I started wearing glasses when I was in the second grade. I mentioned last night that eight year old kids don't have social filters installed yet. As a result they can be extremely cruel. When I showed up in school I was called four eyes. I went home crying and my mother said to me, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.' When did we quit teaching that? Why is everyone so damned sensitive? I'm really tired of walking on egg shells around people because I might offend them.
After my accident, I went through rehab at Shepherd Center in Atlanta. Talk about PC heaven. We were 'differently abled' or 'handicapable'. Did I ever piss some people off when I called myself a cripple. Big collective gasp! 'We don't use that word here.' Why not? 'Well, it has negative connotations.' Not to me. It's a perfectly good word. The dictionary says it is a 'partly lame or disabled person or animal'. It is a perfectly acceptable word to me. 'We don't use that word here.' Tough shit!
In the Navy we used to have slam contests. I'd insult someone. He'd insult me back. We had fun. They are just words! If someone were to call me a cripple, I'd just look at him and say,'Why yes, I am. How observant of you to notice.' I haven't been insulted in years because usually the person who is trying to insult me is an idiot and I know it. And as my father always told me, 'It is pointless to have a battle of wits with someone who is unarmed.' Sure, if I wanted to trade insults with someone, I could do an excellent job. I got some good ones. But why? It is so much more fun to look at the person and smile. Nothing pisses off a person more than you laughing at his insults.
I did have one user who pissed me off. But he didn't insult me. He just annoyed me by being incredibly stupid. He also went to my manager on me. I had called him incompetent. 'Oh Mr. EPSM (Empty Polo Shirt Manager), Denny called me incompetent. Boo hoo! Boo hoo! He's so mean!' Well golly, I am a Grouchy Old Cripple after all. Mr. EPSM called me into his office and told me if the user were incompetent he wouldn't be working for the company. I managed to stifle my laughter. I tried to explain to Mr. EPSM that I wasn't trying to insult the user, I was just stating a fact. In fact, I had apologized to the user for his incompetence. The user was fired two months later.
So can't we just lighten up? I know that sounds strange coming from me. But we're just entirely too sensitive.
Just remember this. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. Unless, of course the words come from a certain Grouchy Old Cripple.
I know some hurtin' words!
Guess what? There is a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy (VLWC). I've found their site. It's from the same people who gave us the 'I Believe Cynthia' drivel that I wrote about June 29. Sorry, links before July 1 do not work because I changed my archiving frequency to monthly, and don't know how to change the prior weekly archives to monthly. But, back to the VLWC. They have a 12 Step Program for wimpy Democrat politicians, put together by Reba Shimansky. So without further ado, let's check it out.
1. Do not be intimidated by Bush's high approval ratings-they are a mile wide and an inch deep. In spite of brainwashing by the media, there is no great affection of Americans for the White House bum-George W. Bush.
Media brainwashing? What media is she talking about? Maybe CNN (the Clinton News Network). Or how about NPR (National Proletariat Radio)? I know, it must be that Bush shill Peter Jennings. Or it could be that noted Republican supporter Dan Rather. And I know perky Katie Couric is one of George W. Bush's greatest fans. Wait a minute. It just came to me. Must be Molly Ivins. I think Reba's just upset that Bubba's ratings never got as high as Dubya's or stayed as high as long. Maybe the American public like Bush because he is an honorable man, unlike Bubba who is white trash. Do you remember him bragging about his pickup truck with astroturf in the bed?
2. Never refer to Bush as our wartime President. We are engaged in a campaign or fight against terrorism-this is not comparable to World War II. Also Americans do not like to change leaders during wartime and the use of this term will guarantee Bush a second term. Furthermore, wartime Presidents do not have the time to campaign and raise money for their party the way Bush constantly does.
She's right. This is not comparable to World War II. In World War II, we knew who our enemies were and where to find them. Also we didn't have to worry about attacks on the continental United States until 9/11. We know we are dealing with fanatical people and, if they can get their hands on one, they will smuggle in a nuclear device and embark on their anticipated tryst with the 72 virgins and take a lot of innocent Americans with them. But Reba, this is a war. It's just a different kind of war. And, listening to a Democrat gripe about the President's fundraising is a hoot! Pot: 'Hey Kettle, you're black.' Kettle: 'I'm rubber and you're glue. Everything bounces off of me and sticks to you.' Now children, let's not fight. Reba's just mad because Bush is raising more money than Clinton did and he doesn't have to rent out the White House to do it.
3. Challenge the media when they refer to Bush as a compassionate conservative. Bush likes to project an image of being a different of Republican but his 17-month record shows that he is a foot soldier of the radical right. For example he says he is in favor of a Medicare drug program but only wants to invest a token amount of money to fund it. He should be held accountable for his record of radical right extremism.
Huh? This is the best she can do? We have a President who signed the biggest farm bill in history. And since when did the radical right champion steel tariffs? The radical right would not even have had a Medicare prescription drug program. Listen up you liberal twit, I'm waiting for Bush to govern from even the moderate right. If it weren't for the tax cuts and the foreign policy, I'd think he was a Democrat. Sorry, bitch, but that dog won't hunt. (bitch - dog, get it? I'm just explaining this in case Instapunditwatch or Reba happen to read this. I'm still getting referrals from her. Thanks for the traffic.)
4. Put Bush on notice that Antonin Scalia would be an unacceptable choice to replace William Rehnquist as Chief Justice and if Scalia is selected it will be filibustered to death. Democrats must remind Bush that Democrats have never gotten over his stealing of the presidency and we regard Scalia as his co-conspirator.
And Democrats never will get over his 'stealing' of the Presidency. 'Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends'.... (thanks Andrea). No fair! No fair! Only Democrats are allowed to steal elections. And dammit! We sent our pro at election stealing, Richard Daley, down to Florida. If he couldn't steal it, then Bush must have won. We could go over this many times, but according to the US Constitution, Bush won. After the election, all the recounts that the Dems wanted showed Bush won.
5. Hold Bush responsible for the sluggish economy. He was given the booming Clinton economy, which he has destroyed thru his mismanagement and tax cuts for the rich. We now have deficits instead of the Clinton surpluses as far as the eye can see.
The 'booming Clinton economy' had tanked before the election. Oh, and we gotta get 'tax cuts for the rich' in there. Why does everytime I hear that I think 'Four legs good, two legs bad'?. OK, if 'tax cuts for the rich' are so bad, why don't y'all campaign on raising taxes? 'If I win this election, I promise to raise taxes.' Mondale did it and he was a rousing success. C'mon Reba put your heart in it. 'Soak the rich!' No, Democrats always promise to lower taxes. Remember Bill Clinton promising a middle class tax cut in 1992 and then in the summer of 1993 going on TV and saying that he'd tried everything else and had to raise taxes and this was the hardest thing he had ever done? Actually, the hardest thing he's ever done is sleeping with Hillary or maybe the one or two times he's ever told the truth.
6. Never praise Bush for his handling of his so-called war on terror. We still have not captured Bin Laden and the war in Afghanistan is still going on. His leadership has been a failure.
So Bosnia, where Bubba sent troops, is a failure because the troops are still there? And she's right, we have not captured bin Laden, but we haven't heard much from him either, have we? If he's alive, he's probably living a life of ease in some luxurious cave in Afganistan. Bush has been a hell of a lot more effective than Bubba who blew up an aspirin factory in the Sudan and a tent and some goats in Afganistan. At least he did sumpin' rather than promising justice, biting his lip and getting a blowjob from Monica.
7. Demand the release of the Aug 6th CIA memo, which warned Bush that Al-Qaeda would be hijacking planes on US soil. Bush could be (sic) have taken some pre-emptive measures instead he did nothing and 3000 Americans were killed. Bush, not the CIA or FBI is to blame for 09/11.
Reba, you ignorant slut. Please. I'm begging you. Please. Tell me what pre-emptive measures could anyone have taken to stop 9/11. Some Muslim men are gonna hijack some planes. Better keep a sharp lookout and single out men of Middle Eastern descent at airline check in counters. 'Excuse me, I'm Reba Shimansky from the Democratic party. We cannot allow you to do that. That would be ethnic profiling and that is bad.' No. Throwing common sense out the window for the sake of political fucking correctness is to blame for 9/11 and if we have any more 9/11's we can also blame it on political fucking correctness because, even after 9/11, and knowing that the most likely hijackers are gonna be men of Middle Eastern descent, we still cannot single out men of Middle Eastern descent for additional security checks because we might hurt their feelings! Let's search little old ladies in wheelchairs, Al Gore and Ray Charles. Jesus H. Christ! What is wrong with this picture?
8. Cheney's failure to release the notes of his Energy task force meetings must be made a campaign issue.
Whereas Hillary's failure to release the notes of her health care meetings was OK.
9. The electorate should be reminded of the influence that Enron had in the Bush administration in terms of formulating energy policy and hiring of personnel.
Huh? How does she know that if we're still waiting for Cheney to release his notes? 'Truth? We don't need no stinkin' truth! We make shit up.'
10. Democrats should give Bush the same respect and deference that Republicans showed to President Clinton, who unlike Bush was a legitimately elected President.
'Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...' Bush stole the election ... blah blah blah. 'tax cuts for the rich ... blah blah blah ... save Social Security ...blah blah blah ... starving women and children ... blah blah blah ... (insert your favorite Democrat mantra here) Listen Reba, respect is something that has to be earned. Billy boy is white trash. He was accorded the respect due to any President. Unfortunately, he started trashing the office from day one. History will show him to be the most corrupt President, with the most corrupt administration that this nation had ever seen. Maybe if Trent Lott had had a spine, and the Senate and the American people could have seen all the evidence against that fat, lying hillbilly (I apologize to any hillbilly who's offended) he might have been thrown out of office. And if he had been, Al Gore would be President now and you wouldn't have had to go through the trouble of writing these 12 steps. Of course, then I wouldn't have had a blog for today.
11. Domestic issues such as shoring up Social Security and Medicare should be made campaign issues and not placed back on the backburner because of Bush's scare tactics.
The mean evil nasty Republicans want to eliminate Social Security and Medicare and kill off all the old people. Don't forget to bring up the poor and the homeless. And don't forget to say. 'It's for the children'. Calling John Lewis. It's time for you to get up on the floor of the House and say, 'They're coming for the poor. They're coming for the elderly. They're coming for the children.' Actually John, we have to wait a little while longer. We're a few months behind schedule on the concentration camp construction program.
12. Do not approve any of Bush's conservative judges. There are enough rightwingwacko judges on the federal bench.
We certainly don't want any judges on the bench who actually believe in the Constitution. And don't forget, there can never be enough leftwingwacko judges on the federal bench.
So now you know Reba's 12 step program for wimpy Democrat politicians. It's the usual drivel that we have come to expect from the Democrats. Reba, after reading this bullshit, I've come to the conclusion that what you need is a good ol' healthy bitch slap.
Reba Shimansky! Come on down!
Whap!
I got a real nice e-mail over the weekend. I do read all my e-mail. I also get ideas for what to blog about from e-mail. To those of you who want to take credit for anything you have written to me, let me know and if I quote you, I will gladly give credit where credit is due. Anyway, the e-mail went like this:
You do the Internet a great service with your open-handed bitch slaps of vitriol and rancor. I'm so pleased that you've come along and offered such a splendid read to us all.
All I can say is 'Thank you. The pleasure is all mine.' And now that just reminds me of all the people in this world, in no particular order, who definitely need to be bitch slapped.
Cynthia McKinney. Everytime she opens her mouth, we get all sorts of racist, bigoted bullshit. Oh, I forgot, according to Joseph Lowery, of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, blacks can't be racist because that implies superiority and blacks can't be superor to other races. Huh? Well yeah, that is one definition, but another definition is hatred of other races, and we know Cynthia hates Jews and white people. So ... Whap!
Eleanor Clift. I finally had to quit watching the McLaughlin Group because I just could no longer take the shrieking of Eleanor Clift. Just like I used to yell at the TV during Monday Night Football when How-wierd Co-sell wouldn't shut up, that's the way I feel about Eleanor. Have you ever noticed in a discussion between a conservative and a liberal, the liberal always interrupts and talks over the conservative? But they get pissed when a conservative interrupts them. Once the McLaughlin Group had Laura Ingraham on and she did not take any crap from Eleanor. She verbally bitch slapped Eleanor. Ah, to have witnessed that. It was a thing of beauty! I just wish John McLaughlin would get out of his chair and ... Whap!
Yasser Arafat. Why is this bastard still alive? He's got more lives than a cat. And what's with the freaking table cloth on his head? Does he ever take it off? I see other Palestinians around him and none of them wear table cloths on their heads. What's he hiding under there? Do you think he sleeps in it? And, Jesus, if he can't grow a better beard than that, shave the freakin' thing off. I really like the fact that he wrote a long letter to Colin Powell saying, I'm reforming the Palestinian Authority. I'm still the leader. I'm trying to stop the violence. Give me another chance. Please? Pretty please with sugar and cinnamon on it? I'll be good. I promise. Sorry Yasser. You are the weakest link. G'bye and ... Whap!
Maxine Waters. Look Maxine, the CIA had nuttin' ta do with crack in Watts. That's a figment of your imagination. Likewise they had nuttin' ta do with AIDS. And cut out the reparations crap! Lots of good men died during the Civil war to end slavery. Blacks have a better standard of living in this country than they do in any other country in the world. You want forty acres and a mule? Go to Zimbabwe. In the meantime shut up or ... Whap!
Li'l Dickie Gephardt. I used to live in St. Louis, Believe it or not, when Dickie first started out in politics, he was a conservative Democrat. I realize that's an oxymoron, but he was pro life (lots of Catholics in his district back then) and voted more centrist. But, once he got aspirations to go national he moved to the left. Let's face it, an anti-abortion Democrat is not gonna go anywhere in the party. The thing that grates on my nerves is when Dickie starts talking about winners and losers in 'life's lottery'. Listen craphead, probably 90% of the 'losers in life's lottery' are there because of their own stupid decisions. My sister and I were lower middle class with a father who was an alcoholic. We worked hard and got an education. We had part time jobs as children. When we became adults we worked hard and made responsible decisions. We are both what you would call 'rich'. We did it ourselves. Barring catastrophic illness, or other catastrophies like breaking one's back and becoming a paraplegic (wait a minute, that may not qualify. That happened to me and I overcame it to become one of the evil hated rich), or having a severe accident, there's really not much excuse for not succeeding in this country. The big trick is education and hard work. But, you, craphead, along with the teachers' unions have so screwed up the gummint schools that people (due to social promotion - what dickhead came up with that idea?) are graduating functionally illiterate. Here in Georgia we use the lottery (a way to get the stupid and the poor to pay taxes. I love it! Walk into the Quick Trip, and damned if there isn't a Bubba or Earline gettin' a sixpack of beer, a carton of Marlboros and five lottery tickets. Tax the stupid!) to fund sumpin' called Hope Scholarships. The students need to graduate with a B average, Here in the Georgia schools they can graduate with an A average and still not be able to read and write. So, Dickie, for all you do, this ...Whap! is for you.
Major Owens. A black Congressman from New York. He got up on the House floor and rattled on about how twenty million (then the next day, wait that's wrong it was two million) blacks were thrown overboard when being transported to America. 'Sharks still patrol the waters to this day looking for the dark meat of slaves.' Major, you're a booger eatin moh-ron and deserve a ...Whap!
Little Tommie Daschle. Tommie wants to be President. And .. and ... I'm the Senate Majority Leader. I want my way, and if I don't get it, I'll ... I'll .. I'll hold my breath until I get my way. And if that doesn't work, I'll lay on the floor and kick and scream. This dodo wants to be President? Let's see if we can pull a Dukakis on him. Find a tank, put him in it, and put a helmut on him. Behold, Rocket J. Squirrel. Tommie, just shut up an ...Whap!
Trent Lott. Trent, like Lisa Lupner's father, was born without a spine. Trent, if you ever get to be the Senate Majority Leader again, act like it. C'mere. I got sumpin for ya ... Whap!
Magaret Carlson. She's not as irritating as Eleanor Clift, but just as dumb. Have you ever seen her when she scrunches up her face? She looks just like a chipmunk. I don't know where Simon and Theodore are, but I think we've found Alvin. Magaret, here ya go ... Whap!
Hillary Clinton. I think we may have found Simon. With those puffy cheeks she looks like a chipmunk also. Hey, did ya here that KFC has a Hillary Clinton special? Two small breasts, two large thighs and one left wing. Wait a minute. Put Margaret, Hillary and Tammy Fay Baker together and we do have Simon, Theodore and Alvin. But back to Hillary. You're a piece of work. A real woman would have taken her child and walked away from that bastard you're married to. Most of my woman friends would have made that bastard resign rather than putting the country through the ordeal and embarrassing his wife and child. But being a victim worked. You're a Senator. I didn't realize there were that many stupid people in New York. Anyway, waddle on over here so I can ...Whap! you.
This booger eatin' moh-ron. Jesus, if you're gonna call someone too dumb, at least spell too properly. This is almost as funny as when Hosea Williams led a protest march in Forsyth, Georgia and a bunch of dumb rednecks were protesting the protest and one of them was holding a sign that said 'Niger go home!' Obviously a product of the Georgia school system. Anyway, BEM, drop the sign so I can give ya a big ol' ... Whap!
There are lots more people I'd love to bitch slap, but my hand is gettin' tired. Probably another time.
Feel free to take over.
C'mon people. What do I have to do to get some hate mail around here? Geez, I've picked on affirmative action, diversity, ethnic and racial profiling, and the poor, just to name a few. The closest I've come was Instapunditwatch calling a fisking of Molly Ivins a 'hatchet job' and 'crap'. (I'd link to it, but Blogger's links are broken again.) I loved that, because I got over 100 referrels from her web page. I'm still getting 'em. There really is no such thing as bad publicity. So let's see if I can piss off someone else today.
Religion of Peace - Today in the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation we have some more whining from the members of the Religion of Peace.
Recent federal raids of local jewelry stores coupled with reports that terrorism suspects are under nationwide surveillance has renewed anger and fear in Atlanta's Muslim community.
Raise the hue and cry! This is blatant ethnic profiling!
People are very frightened," said Hasan Kamal, a Muslim from India who attended Friday prayers at the Al-Farooq Masjid in Midtown. "They are really scared, even though many of them are American citizens. They think their civil rights will be denied."
Yep. Here come the thugs! We're gonna arrest you, confiscate all your possessions, and throw you out of the country. Ooops! Wrong country. That's what Muslim countries do to Jews.
Some Atlanta area Muslims said Friday they support the Justice Department's efforts to snag suspected terrorists. Nevertheless, they are scared of being profiled. And they don't want federal operations to become a witch-hunt.
Then how about acting like Americans and if you know of any al Qaida members turn 'em in?
We want to make sure anyone being questioned or detained that their due process rights are respected," said Rashid Naim, a Georgia State University professor and spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We are in favor of rigorous law enforcement, but law enforcement based primarily on profiling is a matter of great concern."
Listen up Rashid. The people we are looking for live in the Muslim community. Where do you expect us to look? Hey, let's raid a few synagogues. Bet there's a whole big bunch of al Qaida members there.
Hassan Hodan, a spokeswoman at the council's national office took it a step farther.
"It has been: 'Guilty before proven innocent,' " she said.
No Hassan. That's the way it worked where you came from. You're in America now. And I got two words for you: Bull and Shit Oh? It's one word? OK Bullshit!
HIV positive Muppet - Now here's an interesting item.
The first HIV-positive Muppet will soon join the
cast of "Sesame Street" in South Africa to educate children about the
deadly virus that infects more than 10 percent of the country.
How about educating me? How the freaking hell can a freaking Muppet catch AIDS? I don't even want to think about Kermit gettin' it on with Miss Piggy.
The female character, whose color, name and personality traits are still on the
drawing board, will be introduced on "Takalani Sesame" in September.
All right, who gave it to her? Who's been porkin' the babe? Is she gonna be a slut? Maybe a druggie. Howsa 'bout a Muppet on crack? Miss HIV Crackhead.
We want to build hope and address the issues of stereotypes against HIV," Kgame
said. "It's about instilling positive attitudes toward people HIV infected."
Yeah. If you have AIDS in South Africa, we're pretty positive you're gonna die. Egypt ain't the only country in Africa that has da Nile.
With more than 4.7 million people living with HIV, South Africa has the world's
largest population infected with the virus. Despite this, there is a crushing stigma
surrounding the virus in the country.
Not just a crushing stigma, but a full scale government policy of denial! But, I don't think an HIV infected Muppet is gonna do the trick. Hey, Desmond Tutu, instead of lecturing Israel, why don't you get your ass back to South Africa? Charity starts at home bucko. And Jimmy Carter is back from Venezuela (dammit). Maybe you can get him to go to South Africa with you. I'm sure his moral presence would be a big help. Maybe he could do some good for a change. And while he's there, he could build a few houses. That's sumpin' he actually can do.
Letters - Every Saturday in the AJC there are no editorials or op-ed pieces. The Opinion section is made up of a colum by Mike King, the Reader's Advocate of the AJC. He usually justifies some stupid thing the paper has done. There is also a section called Good Neighbors. This is where people write letters thanking folks for some random act of kindness. At least once a month there is a letter like the one from Mary Ann Siegal (third one down).
I had a flat tire on Camp Creek Parkway. I was very grateful that Carl Eberhart
was there to help. He guided me as I maneuvered my car into a self-serve gas
station, changed my tire and inflated the spare tire to the correct air pressure. I
watched him very carefully, so I would know how to change the tire if it ever
becomes flat again!
That's just great Mary Ann. Why didn't you know how to do it yourself? Before my sister or I could even get a driver's license, my father taught us how to change a tire. And then he made sure we could do it by making us do it in front of him. I'm a freaking cripple and I can change a tire. If you can't do sumpin' simple like changing a tire you shouldn't even be allowed to drive!
Leaving the good neighbor letters we now get into the serious stuff. Marjorie Davis (next letter down) of Roswell checks in.
I have long feared to speak out about our nation's leadership because I have felt
that many people would consider my concerns unpatriotic.
That never stopped Cynthia McKinney so I guess you can say stupid things too. Ya see, we have this thing called the 1st Amendment that pretty much allows you to say just about anything you want no matter how stupid. So, carry on.
But after the huge showing of patriotic fervor on Independence Day,
I realize there are many ways to show patriotism. One is to speak
out on things that can be changed.
Yeah, like getting Cynthia McKinney out of office. Oh, I'm sorry. You were saying...
This administration asks for coalitions, but turns down other ways of doing the
nation's business. It has abrogated the ABM treaty,
And that is bad because?
negated treaty conferences on small arms
An anti-gun nut. Why am I not surprised?
and refused to consider the Kyoto Protocol, a convention that 118
nations favor.
Marjorie, let me 'splain it to you. We live in a republic (not a democracy), and the people do not want Kyoto. The Senate (remember them? They're part of the gummint) voted 100 to 0 against the Kyoto treaty. And if we did sign on, we would have a massive ennergy shortage and you would be screaming for the gummint to do sumpin' you liberal twit!
I found it fascinating that our president said he accepted that global warming is
real and is at least in part caused by human beings, but because it had been
going on for so long, we would just have to learn to live with it.
I find it fascinating too Marjorie, since the EPA said that, and then the President didn't agree with it and said we needed more studies.
Does that mean we should just accept the drought that is so largely the source
of the forest fires in Colorado?
No, the source of two of the fires were gummint employees who started them. It was in all the papers and on the TV news. You must have missed it. Must have been out playing ALTA tennis or watching Oprah.
Welcome the floods of the area of south central Texas?
I'm a little confused. How does a drought cause a flood?
Put up with the melting glaciers that profoundly affect the water supply of
much of the Northwest?
It's called climate. It may or not be man made.
There are ways to manage the problem.
Please enlighten us. We're waiting with bated breath.
First, we must begin to lessen our dependence on oil.
Sounds good. How about some nuclear power plants. Wanna bet she's against 'em? We need wind, solar, blah, blah, blah..Save the whales.
Second, we must refuse to listen to corporations that want to
make larger profits by keeping the gas mileage low,
It's them evil oil companies. Did you hear that they've kept inventions that would increase gas mileage off the market? Marjorie does live in Roswell, after all, even if it is Roswell, Georgia.
or Congress, which will not force the issue.
Whose fault is that? We elected the bastards. Maybe the rest of the people in the country don't want to drive Yugos.
Don't forget that the emissions from our automobiles are a root cause of global
warming. And finally, electric cars or gas-electric hybrids could relieve much of
traffic-caused pollution.
What do ya wanna bet that Marjorie drives an SUV?
And, finally, Lucy Worthen, from Atlanta tells us about the most earth shaking problem that confronts America today. Seventh letter down.
Let's lighten up a little and focus on one of our minor, but irritating, problems. If I
were vying for the Miss America crown, my platform would be to work on
changing America's table settings.
What about world peace, hunger, AIDS and poverty? Some Miss America you would be.
Yes, you read correctly.
I wasn't really sure if I did read you correctly. I was really worried that the last hit on the bong put me over the edge.
Why do we persist in placing forks and salad plates to our left instead of to our
right?
'Cause Martha Stewart says so?
I know, I know. It's the way our European friends have always dined since
modern manners and flatware came into use. But they have a reason for it. They
hold a fork in their left hand and a knife in their right the entire meal. Americans
don't.
Have you ever watched a lefthanded person eat? He (or she) holds the fork in his (or her) left hand. If we moved the flatware, it might offend a minority. Lefthanders of the world unite! Lucy wants to discriminate against you!
We should, therefore, opt for convenience and logic. Frankly, I'm tired of dining
"correctly" and watching my sleeve trail in food on my right arm's way to the
salad.
Lucy, you should be more careful. Your manners must be pretty bad if dining "correctly" entails dragging your sleeve through your food. Have you thought about maybe wearing short-sleeved blouses when you dine? I sure ain't gonna invite you to my house for dinner.
Seriously.
Seriously? Seriously? This had to be a joke right? I know it was.
There are more hilarious letters. For example, Cress Joiner, of Talladega, Alabama, goes on about how Congress is helping the evil, hated rich. This excerpt is a howler:
George W. Bush is by far the most political president this country has ever
known.
Hey Rip Van Dickhead! Did you sleep through the eight years of the Clinton Presidency? Now there was the most political president this country has ever known. He is by far the best politician of my generation and I don't mean that as a compliment.
I call "Little" George the television president. If he can find any reason to
be on television, we will see him on television.
And I call Clinton the asshole president and we saw too much of him on the television wagging his finger and biting his freakin' lip. Go back to sleep Cress!
The letter right below Lucy's said we should 'Give Mississipi more respect.'
I don't make this shit up. I wish I could.
Pass me the bong.
The Atlanta Urinal and Constipation has been long overdue for some bleeding heart liberal crap. They took care of that today. The lead editorial is titled, Soften blow of tax hikes for low-income families. Translated that means get out your wallets.
For affluent homeowners, a sudden jump in property taxes is a budgetary blip.
Hold it right there Baba Looey! Anytime my taxes go up it is not a freaking 'budgetary blip'! It is a recurring expense. If you think it's a freaking blip, howsa 'bout you payin' it for me?
But for seniors on fixed incomes or younger, working-class
Working class is liberal speak for poor. I work, but, to them, I'm not working class.
households who are barely scraping by,
And often times that is because they made bad choices, like dropping out of school or having children they couldn't afford.
an unexpected spike in property taxes can be an overwhelming burden.
Huh? For them it's a spike and for me it's a blip? We're only on the first paragraph and already my blood pressure's goin' up. That blip is gonna produce a spike in my prescription drug bill.
All too often, that's what happens in gentrifying communities where well-heeled newcomers begin buying or renovating older homes, thereby driving up tax assessments for their less affluent neighbors. Some up-and-coming intown Atlanta neighborhoods where tax collections were flat a few years ago have recently seen double-digit increases in property assessments. In parts of DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett counties, high demand for a limited supply of affordable "starter" homes has sharply driven up prices -- and taxes.
C'mon. I'm crying real tears over here. Someone has done absolutely nothing and their house, which is probably a piece of shit, is now doubled in value. In capitalist societies this is know as capital appreciation. If this happens to an affluent person it is called a windfall. Only a socialist or a liberal could make this out to be a bad thing.
"There are teachers, mailmen, cops, nurses and secretaries
Good solid citizens.
who work in nice areas of Atlanta," says Nathaniel Smith of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, a nonprofit agency that works to increase the region's affordable housing stock. "But we have property taxes that make it impossible for them to live in those same neighborhoods."
Hey bucko! Here's a solution: sell the house, pocket the windfall profit, find a house in a cheaper neighborhood, and invest the difference. Then, they wouldn't have to worry about that spike thing. Or better yet, cut the size of government and cut everyone's taxes. Two good solutions.
Around the country in places where gentrification also has taken root, local governments have developed strategies to keep high tax bills from prompting a forced exodus of lower-income residents. One of the more promising initiatives is "circuit breakers," so-called because they kick in automatically to eliminate the shock of rapidly rising property assessments.
But you can bet your ass that I don't get a freaking 'circuit breaker'. They just blip me some more.
Thirty-five states already have circuit breakers that offer assistance to low-income seniors as well as working-class households who are surviving just above the poverty line.
If they're just above the poverty line, how did they buy the house in the first place? Maybe they should be living in a trailer. Ya don't have to pay much property tax when ya live in a trailer. Tornados can be a problem, though.
Such programs vary, but are particularly effective when linked to household income. For example, a circuit breaker set at 2 percent of annual income means a household earning $30,000 would pay no more than $600 in property taxes ($30,000 x .02 = $600) regardless of the property's assessment.
Now, I would love to get a deal like that. Unfortunately, I and the rest of us folks who, as Dickie Gephardt says, have won life's lottery, just get blipped to make up the shortfall.
In Washington, where gentrification has been remaking the capital city, local lawmakers have imposed a hard cap on property tax increases. Homeowners in the District pay only 25 percent of the difference between their old and new property tax assessments, which acts as a circuit breaker of sorts.
So the people who move in, and are rebuilding the city get blipped big time.
But not all property tax relief programs are well-crafted.
I'm shocked!
In 1983, Muscogee County adopted a "freeze" on property tax valuations as a hedge against inflation that applied to all homeowners until they either sold their residence or died. Last month, state Superior Court Judge George M. Peagler found the county's program violated the equal protection clause of the state constitution because it bestowed a tax benefit on older, wealthier homeowners often at the expense of newcomers, many of whom had lower incomes.
In the above example, the older residents are wealthy while the new owners aren't. That's unconstitutional. But
"Those who are hurt by the scheme are those persons who do not currently own homes, but who hope to," Peagler said in his ruling last month. "Included in this group are young people, people in transition, the working poor, and perhaps, racial minorities."
This is OK 'cause in gentrified neighborhoods, the only people who get hurt are the affluent and they only get blipped. I guess that is constitutional.
For property tax exemptions to make a difference in gentrifying areas, they should include strict "means tests" that are tied to household income. And, as Peagler's ruling points out, such programs must also be carefully crafted to avoid harming the same at-risk groups they are ostensibly intended to help.
And blipping the people they are meant to screw.
Or screwing the people they are meant to blip.
Not really much difference either way.
Before I begin my rant, I'd like to thank Eva for buying off the add space at the top of my blog. What a sweetie!
My friend, Cindy flew to Orlando a few weeks ago and she was picked out by our rocket scientist security screeners for a random search. Cindy has red hair and green eyes. I guess she could be an Irish terrorist, but I don't think the IRA has started hijacking airplanes yet. As she was being searched, two Muslim women in full regalia (and in full regalia, how can you tell if they are women?) were waved through.
A few weeks back Al (Next time I'm not gonna listen to pollsters. I'm just gonna let 'er rip!) Gore was checked not once, but twice. I realize he might still be a little upset over that 2000 election thing, but I don't think he would be upset enough to hijack an airplane. "OK. If we don't have another recount in Florida, I'm gonna crash this plane into the Supreme Court building."
This might be an urban legend, but I heard that Ray Charles got searched. Ray Charles? Yeah, the blind guy. Plays the piano. Sings. Had a few hits. "I'm flyin' this plane to Georgia. Point me in the right direction."
To quote Taggert (Slim Pickens) in Blazing Saddles "What in the wide, wide world of sports is a-goin' on here?" Have we lost our minds? Ray Charles and Al (Lettin' 'er rip) Gore are not gonna hijack planes. Abdullah and Yasser are. And I don't give a shit if we hurt their feelings or not.
Danny Glover cannot catch a cab in New York and cries racism. The cabbies don't want to pick up black people. Well, Danny. the reason they don't want to pick up black people is because there is a greater chance of them getting robbed (and killed) by a black person than by a white person. Even the Pakistani cab drivers understand that. I'm sorry, but that ain't racism, that's the cabbie using his brain.
So let's look a little closer at profiling. What profiling is is using statistics and extrapolating probabilities from those statistics. Here's an easy question: Since most of the airline hijackings during the the last thirty years have been done by men of Middle Eastern descent who is most likely to hijack a plane?
Now if you answered Hillary Clinton, you misunderstood the question. I didn't mean the most dangerous person on the plane, I meant the person most likely to hijack the plane. If you were one of our professional screeners (and remember, little Tommy Daschle said "to professionalize, we must federalize" - did he get that rhyme from Jesse Jackson?) the last person you would pick would be the Middle Eastern guy since that would be profiling and, of course, we sure wouldn't want to offend him, especially since this might be his last day on earth. Let's not hurt his feelings and damage his self esteem. The trauma may affect his performance with the 72 virgins. "Dammit Fatima, if it hadn't been for that rude screener I wouldn't be having this problem."
And now onto racial profiling, or why can't Danny Glover get a cab in New York City? I hate to bring up a terrible truth, but blacks, by percentage of population have a much higher crime rate than whites, or Hispanics, or Asians or Samoans, or Martians (all right, I made that last one up). And here's the kicker. They ain't committin' crimes against white, racist, bigots like me. The highest black crime rate is black on black crime. So Jesse, Maxine, Al, Cynthia, and all you other poverty pimps, howsa 'bout we just pull the cops from the inner city and let y'all kill each other? Is that what you want?
Now liberals are always talking about 'root cause', so let's talk about 'root cause'. A good little liberal will say that the 'root cause' of crime is poverty. Whoa Nellie! Stop the presses! I actually agree with a liberal about sumpin'! The 'root cause' of crime in the black (and Hispanic and white) communities is poverty. So we agree.
Where the liberal (and good intentioned blacks like John Lewis. Bless his heart, he got hit by too many nightsticks during the civil rights era. I still remember him on the floor of the House "They're coming for the poor. They're coming for the children. They're coming for the old folks." Yep. There they are: The jack booted brown shirt Republican thugs. I remember it just like it was yesterday. Heil Newt!) folks and I disagree is how to solve poverty. The liberal (and socialist) solution is to give them money. Well, we've given them $5 trillion and it hasn't done a damn bit of good. Now, a good little liberal (or socialist) would tell you that we haven't given 'em enough money. Remember, the only reason that socialism has never worked is because the right people (Hillary Clinton) haven't been in charge and we haven't spent enough money on it.
Whenever we declare war on a concept it is a complete failure. Remember Prohibition? That was a war on alcohol. We really won that one didn't we. Hello Al Capone. And how's the war on drugs goin'? The war on poverty? We can win it. Just give us more money. I worry about the war on terrorism, but I've covered that before and will cover it again.
I was reading a book review in The New Republic (Gasp! GOC reads The New Republic?) a few years ago and it was a study on the disintegration of the black family. During the 50's and early 60's black families were making tangible gains. Somewhere around the mid 60's the black family began to disintegrate. There were more single mothers. The author just didn't have a clue as to what caused this. Hey Sherlock! Listen up! It was the Great Fucking Society! Guess what? I have babies. I get a place. Nothing fancy, but, it's mine. I get food stamps. I get a check. And, here's the neat part. I don't have to work. In all fairness, this is not just black. It is also white, Hispanic, and others. And. yes. I know there are more whites than blacks on welfare, but as a percentage of the population, the poverty rate is much higher among blacks. Likewise the illegitimacy rate. It is now approaching 80%. That is a crime! And the NAACP is more concerned with a freaking flag on the capitol grounds in South Carolina. Hey guys! We got people in trouble over here. Enough with the Confederate flag bullshit!
All right. We've agreed that the 'root cause' of crime is poverty. We've also determined (at least those of us with brains) that the war on poverty has been an abysmal failure. So what's the solution? OK. Here's GOC's solution to poverty.
If you have an education; if you can speak, read, and write proper English; if you have developed good work habits; if you have not had children you cannot afford; there is absolutely no reason other than an accident or catastrophic illness that you cannot succeed in this country. This works for Jamal, Shamika, Jose, Carmen, Bubba, and Ellie Mae. Jesus, Bill Clinton, who's about as white trash as you can get, became President fer crissakes!
The most valuable resource of any society is its people. One of the reasons Arab nations are pissant countries is that they are wasting 50% of their resources. Their women are broodmares and nothing else. If the Arabs, for example, the Saudis, didn't have oil they would be wandering the desert chasing camels and goats. If Germany had used the human resources of their Jewish citizens instead of killing them we would probably be speaking German today.
It pisses me off that we have liberals and black 'leaders' who are selling out a group of people for their own gain.
It pisses me off that we have failing schools in the inner city and the liberals' solution is throwing more money down a worthless rathole.
And it pisses me off that we are squandering valuable human resources.
And it pisses me off that the solution to poverty is so freaking obvious. Even I can see it!
What more can I say?
For all of you who are expecting some sort of racist, bigoted, misanthropic, politically incorrect rant, I'm sorry to say I'm gonna disappoint you. Instead, I'm gonna talk about accounting. So this may bore you. But, if you work for a bureaucracy, you may find this interesting.
TCIDNN (The Company I Dare Not Name) has been given a clean bill of health. Our books are in order. And, I know one of the reasons is SHTS. For those of you who came in late, SHTS is our Stupid Hourly Tracking System. I discussed SHTS in more detail in my here.
Here's another bit of review. TCIDNN is made up of several organizations. I happen to work for MPOOTCIDNN (My Particular Organization Of TCIDNN). Also MPOOTCIDNN is made up of business units. So, to be more precise, I work for MBUOMPOOTCIDNN (My Business Unit Of MPOOTCIDNN). I am in tech support. I am a systems programmer, which means I install and maintain operating systems (by these, I mean operating systems that actually work, unlike the abominations Microsoft has inflicted upon us) that MBUOMPOOTCIDNN uses to provide services for customers. We have a good accounting system. You won't hear, 'I say Smedley, we seem to be missing $4 billion. You haven't seen it anywhere have you?' 'Geez boss, I looked under every desk. Can't find it anywhere.'
Tech support is overhead. We do not produce any revenue. We support people who do. And we have two types of customers we support:
Understanding all this is relatively easy if you just think of money as beans. The money that we get from external customers is made up of green beans. The money we get from internal customers is made up of white beans.
The way tech support used to work, was we were given a bunch of white beans from the main bean jar. This was our budget and we used it to fund all the hardware and software. Then, we tried to figger out how much each of our supporting segments used of our resources and they paid us in beans. If the segment supported external customers, we got green beans. If the segment supported internal customers, we got white beans. Naturally, green beans are better than white beans, 'cause green beans are real money. We put all of our beans back in the main bean jar. If we put more in than we took out, that was profit.
Remember, the budget is made up of white beans. When budgets are approved, everyone gets to go to the main bean jar and pull out the number of white beans corresponding to their budgets. Tech support was very efficient, and we never used all of our white beans (even though we could have). As a result, we saved white beans every year, and our second and third line managers probably got bonuses. Even so, they decided tech support was gonna cut costs and they came up with a real good way to do it.
Tech support wasn't gonna be able to get any white beans for hardware and software. This was now the responsibility of the segments (Our internal customers who actually provide services to our external customers. The segments actually make money.). And this is the sneaky part. They would not give the segments enough white beans to fund the required up to date hardware unless the segments pooled their white beans, but there was not a process for pooling white beans! Beautiful! There would be white beans left over. So, we would not be up to date, but we would save a lot of white beans.
Now, the next thing they would have to figger out is what is everybody doing. Remember, people have to get paid, so you have to have beans for that also. Once again, since tech support is overhead, everyone has to pay tech support in beans. That's where SHTS comes in. Everytime I do a job for someone, I have to code it in SHTS. SHTS keeps track of beans, and, depending on how I code my SHTS, determines how beans flow through the system. Now the segment managers can look at SHTS reports and see what parts of the segments they manage are using the most beans in tech support costs.
The entire system, therefore, depends upon accurate SHTS reporting. Ah, there's the rub. One of my jobs is to install the base system that eventually all of our users are gonna be using. I asked my manager how I was supposed to allocate my SHTS time since what I was doing was affecting everyone. He gave me a typical bullshit manager non-answer. Have you ever tried to nail jello to a wall? They must teach this shit in manager school. Oh yeah, they do. I have a blog about that. So, we are basing business decisions and bean flow on the numbers that I have to make up by guessing at usage of my base system. I also do some work tied directly to particular projects and there is no problem there.
After I build my base system, it is turned over to some other programmers, who make it into our common platform. They have the same problem I do. They have to pull allocation numbers out of the air and guess the usage of the various segments.
We've been doing this since the start of the year and now the segment managers are griping because they don't think their beans are going where they think they should be going. And now our EPS (Empty Polo Shirt) manager has said that we need to be more granular in our SHTS reporting. And we have replied, 'And how will we do that? We asked you about that in January?'
I just love it when a manager looks at you and you can tell that the thought gears in his head have totally locked up. You can almost see the smoke start rising from his head. And guess what the solution is? We have to assign a PM (Project Manager) to it.
Please. Please. Please. Do not assign the MPM (Meeting PM) to it. His solution to every problem is, and I quote 'We will have to call a meeting on that'. And it is not just one meeting. It is countless meetings. I think the fix is, our users get tired of all the meetings and decide to live with the problem. The MPM is the apple of my manager's eye because he makes problems go away.
When I moved into my current job four years ago, I worked for the internal segment. My systems were always at later releases than the systems used to support the external segments so they transferred me to full time tech support with the understanding that 50% of my time would be spent in supporting the internal segment. I asked the manager of the internal segment yesterday if he would like me to upgrade his systems. He said he couldn't afford it. He couldn't spend the white beans on me. As a result, I have had a lot of spare time lately. Fortunately, I got a new system in today and can start installing it and making up SHTS numbers.
I can't really decide which is more fun and which requires the most creativity: Installing the system or making up the SHTS numbers.
Let the beans flow.
Before we look at ridiculous people in the news, I would like to thank Andrea for sending some readers my way. I love reading her stuff. I especially liked her using Emerson, Lake, and Palmer to describe the 2000 election. Nope. Not gonna give you the link. Read her stuff down to it. I promise it will be worth your while.
Now how did I miss this tidbit when I was writing about Diversity (All hail Diversity!) yesterday? It's none other than Gray Davis weighing in on exactly what this country stands for:
Like all Californians, I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn of today's shooting at Los Angeles International Airport," Davis said in a statement. "That it happened on the day on which we honor what America stands for – liberty, security and diversity – makes this particularly more tragic.
Now, since I graduated from Webster Groves High School (Webster Groves? Isn't that where Christopher Johnson lives? - Yep) in 1964 (Geez GOC, you're older than dirt!), which was an exceptionally good public school system, I had to study the US Constitution in junior high (we didn't have middle school then) and in senior high. Now, my memory might be fading (I am an old fart after all), but I do not remember ever seeing Diversity (All hail Diversity!) anywhere in the US Constitution. I also don't remember seeing security either. I do recall something about providing for the common defense, but, since Gray is a liberal Democrat, he doesn't believe in defense. And just remember, he who trades freedom for security will get neither.
And now let us hear some words of wisdom from the Saudi Ambassador to Great Britain.
- Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain said on Tuesday that Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza was worse than anything Europe experienced under Nazi Germany.
He's right you know. Unlike Paris, there are no treelined streets in Ramallah, so the Israelis can't march in the shade.
He also defended Palestinian suicide bombers.
Defending the indefensible. Remember, this is the guy who wrote the poem in praise of suicide bombers.
Ghazi Algosaibi, who drew fire last April for writing a poem in praise of an 18-year-old female suicide bomber, said Israel was using its military might against civilians who were defending themselves with the only weapons available to them.
How about diplomacy?
This is a war of occupation, far more severe than anything the Germans did when they occupied Europe in World War Two," he told academics and reporters after giving a speech at the University of Westminster in London.
Listen up Ahab the A-rab. When Israel starts shipping Palestinians off to gas chambers and ovens you can use this moral equivalence bullshit, but it just don't freakin' work for me! Jordan killed over 30,000 Palestinians when Hussein kicked them out of Jordan after Arafat tried to take over that country. Remember Black September? When Israel approaches that death count then come and talk to us. Until then, shut the fuck up.
The man who kills himself does it because he has decided it is better to die than to live as a slave," he said. He said the poorly equipped Palestinians were using everything they had to oppose the might of the Israeli army, considered the strongest in the Middle East.
Yeah, Ahab, they're slaves to the failed policies of their leaders and the rest of the Arab world. There have been many times since 1948 that the Palestinians could have lived in peace with the Jews. The only trouble is, they do not want a Jewish state. And slavery? Don't make me puke. The real slaves are women in the Arab world, you misanthropic bastard.
If nothing is at their disposal they will use their bodies.
May as well. They sure don't have any brains. 'Well Mahmoud what should we do tonight?' 'Dunno. Let's strap on some bombs and blow up some Jews because our leaders are full of shit.'
Algosaibi said Saudi Arabia was doing everything in its power to fight groups assailed as "terrorist," including Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which he said did not have a strong power base in the kingdom.
Huh? Geez, can this guy shovel shit or what? Has he been taking lessons from Bill and Hillary Clinton? Which leads into another nice segue. Hillary weighs in.
New York Senator Hillary Clinton blasted President Bush late Monday for waiting so long to tackle the recent wave of business scandals that have sent the stock market reeling and caused a crisis of confidence in U.S. corporations.
And if there is one thing Hillary knows about, it is scandals.
During a Middletown, N.Y., appearance, Mrs. Clinton complained that neither the Bush administration nor the Securities and Exchange Commission had "shown much leadership" as the corruption unfolded.
Some things never change, They must have taken their cues from the Clinton Administration.
We need to go further than enforcing the laws that we've got, because I don't think the laws are necessarily adequate," said Mrs. Clinton, who only recently escaped enforcement of laws prohibiting vote trading in exchange for presidential pardons.
What can I say? I mean, does she have chutzpah or what?
Clinton was not asked about her own involvement in a suspicious 1980 cattle futures trading episode, which experts say also likely violated the law.
"We have got to stay ahead of all those
natural impulses people have to take advantage
of each other," she urged.
What's this we shit Hillary? Do you have a turd in your pocket? When are you gonna start?
Mrs. Clinton delivered her remarks hours after
a CNN/USAToday/Gallup poll was released
showing that a majority of Americans say her
husband's "moral failings in office" had
encouraged business leaders to behave
unethically.
Another chapter in the Clinton legacy.
And finally, here's a man bites dog story. It is un-freaking-believable. As I know, all bloggers are raptly following the NAACP convention. We had Julian Bond calling Bush and Ashcroft Nazi's, Jesse Jackson saying ... Who cares what Jesse Jackson says? He has become a caricature, a national joke. But this from today's Atlanta Urinal and Constipation is amazing!
Houston --- In an address stressing patriotism and solidarity between races,
NAACP President Kweisi Mfume denounced "black bigotry" and called for
members to stand against injustice from the "far, far left" as well as the "far, far
right."
Wait a minute? Is this a misprint?
In contrast to more fiery convention remarks from veteran civil rights leaders
Jesse Jackson and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, Mfume's speech Monday
called for support of the armed forces and the anti-terrorism work of the Bush
administration.
Is that the Nazi's in the Bush Administration?
He contended that America is in a fight for freedom internationally as well as
domestically. "The mad men of today's world, much like the racists that dot our
[organization's] 93-year history, use terrorism to intimidate and lies to deceive."
Holy shit! I think he means it.
Mfume also denounced "sexism, racism, anti-Semitism" and "immigrant-bashing
and union-bashing and gay-bashing and city-bashing." He said, "We must speak
out not just against injustice to ourselves but against injustice to everyone.
Has he told Cynthia McKinney about this?
Though much of his speech centered on unity, Mfume did have harsh words for
some government actions. The Supreme Court's decision allowing publicly
funded vouchers to be used for private tuition, he said, amounts to
"resegregation" in the guise of school choice. Mfume also criticized President
Bush for not accepting an invitation to speak at the conference two years in a
row.
OK. This is the Kweisi that we have come to know and love. Even though 60% of blacks polled say they prefer vouchers, the NAACP is against them. And, exactly how would this amount to resegregation? And, why would the President want to come to an organization that does nothing but spout hatred towards him and all of his policies?
"You can't be the president of all the people when you only want to deal with
some of the people," he said.
Well, ya see, there's this Florida thing that you guys keep bringing up. I'm sure Dubya would just love to be your President as soon as y'all would admit that he is, indeed, your President.
He challenged African-Americans to "take responsibility for our lives" and stop
blaming whites for all of their problems.
Whoa! Stop the presses! This is news! C'mon, this is a joke, right?
"Black bigotry is just as cruel and evil as white bigotry," he said.
Tell that to Cynthia McKinney, Billy McKinney, Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond, Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters, Louis Farrakhan...(the list goes on and on).
But, all in all, it sounds like Mr. Mfume wants to actually do something positive. I was very pleasantly surprised and impressed.
Way to go!
Here we go again. Michael Jackson is pissed off because his last album didn't sell and can you guess why it didn't sell? Yes, it is that old tried and true excuse: racism. Listen you pedophile freak, your time has passed. You're washed up. Take a hike. And I really like what Michael Bates has to say, 'Only in America could a poor black boy grow up to be a rich white woman.' Isn't the expression on Rev. Al's face as Michael kisses him priceless? Please, someone, caption that photo. How about, 'Why is this freak kissing me?'
But we're not done yet. Let's hear what Julian Bond has to say at the NAACP convention.
We support language assistance to voters, but most of the
thousands of black Floridians who were denied the right to vote
speak English," Bond said. "The margin of their disenfranchisement
surpassed the margin of victory for candidate Bush."
Well boys and girls here we have a text book example example of the big lie. The never ending story: the 2000 election. Did you know that in spite of trying and trying the civil rights commission was not able to find one (1, ein, uno, une) black registered voter who was not allowed to vote? That means there were no (nada, nein, zip, zero, nil, diddly-dip-point shit) black voters in Florida who were not allowed to vote. It is a big lie told over and over and over again. In fact, there was a record turnout of black voters. And I, for one, am sick and tired of hearing this bullshit over and over and over again. Give it a freaking rest!
And this allows me to segue into Diversity (All hail Diversity!) For it is good! Bullshit! It sucks! Let's discuss the history of Diversity. (All hail Diversity!)
I have worked for TCIDNN (The Company I Dare Not Name) for 29 years. Every year we would have to have a meeting to discuss affirmative action and equal opportunity. Basically, these are good policies. OK we're done. One minute. We used to have an opinion survey every year. If we said we didn't agree with affirmative action and equal opportunity, we would have to spend ten minutes discussing how good it was in our meeting. So every year:
Do you agree with TCIDNN's policy on affirmative action? Hell yes!
Do you agree with TCIDNN's policy on equal opportunity? Hell yes!
Sure made for shorter meetings.
But before we go any further, lets have a real quick discussion of what affirmative action and equal opportunity actually are.
Affirmative action says, we need to fill a job with a black person so find me one. It's a quota system. I'm just curious. but what if they did this in the NBA? I want affirmative action for grouchy old cripples. But you can't play basketball. Exactly my point. Affirmative action does not care if the person is qualified or not. That's why it sucks.
Equal opportunity on the other hand at least has some basis of merit. What it says is if we have two people of equal qualifications we will err in favor of the minority. That minority could be female, black, Hispanic, or, pick your own. I have no problem with equal opportunity because it is addressing an under representation of a particular group, but it is doing it on merit! Also affirmative action was for blacks only. Women need not apply.
In the late 80's they added sexual harassment to the affirmative action equal opportunity meeting. They even showed a video. I'm guessing Bill Clinton never watched this video. Oh right, I forgot. Gloria Steinen said after Clinton's groping that we all got one free grope. Funny. That wasn't in this video.
Then, around 1994, things began to change. See, affirmative action got a bum rap. Lots of people saw it as a quota program, which it was, and a lot of unqualified people were hired and, because of affirmative action, they were next to impossible to fire because if you did you were (all together now) racist.
I'll bet there are some people reading this who think I'm a racist SOB. Think what you want. By the way, have you met my friend Flip? He's a bird.
I think it was around 1994 that I got a company e-mail that there was gonna be a Diversity (All hail Diversity!) Town Hall meeting at one of our central sites. Since I hadn't been apprised of Diversity (All hail Diversity!) yet, I did not know what was in store for me.
I showed up at the appointed time and there was coffee and pastry. At least I'll get sumpin' outta this meeting. Then, we all went into the auditorium and I discovered that Diversity (All hail Diversity!) was simply affirmative action (without equal opportunity) repackaged and renamed Diversity (All hail Diversity!).
The first speaker, who was, of course black (GOC your racism is showing - no, I'm just telling it like it is) showed the now famous visual of the buying power of various groups. Let's see, there were blacks, old people, Hispanics, and, a new group, gays. It turns out that there are an awful lot of rich gay people. The whole point of this is that since we want to sell to these groups, we should have people employed who are members of these groups. OK Sounds good. But, he wasn't finished. He had to drone on for another hour talking about how great Diversity (All hail Diversity!) was. Hey bucko! There's a little overkill here, don't ya think? Finally he quit.
Then we moved on to speaker number two. He was also black (not racist - dammit, he was) and, he was the vice president in charge of Diversity (All hail Diversity!). He droned on for another hour about how good he was and how good Diversity (All hail Diversity!) was.
As an aside here, I got an e-mail from a person who had a similar experience at her company. Her Diversity (All hail Diversity!) meeting consisted of a black professor from a college (unnamed) coming in and telling them that the only Diversity (All hail Diversity!) issues that mattered were black and white. So the person who sent me the e-mail is obviously racist. As another aside, the wife of one of my co-workers went to our vice president in charge of Diversity (All hail Diversity!) with a sexual harassment concern and was blown off. (Bad choice of words. Pun unintentional, but I'm leaving it in anyway.) Anyway, he didn't want to have anything to do with it. Obviously, some people are more diverse than others.
After the town hall meeting was over, I saw on tables, in the back of the auditorium, literature on a gay group for gay TCIDNN employees. OK. The gays have joined forces with the blacks. Geez! Now y'all probably think I'm a homophobe also. I'm not racist and I'm not a homphobe, but think what you want. Hey Flip, some more people want to meet you.
So, now, every year we have to attend a Diversity (All hail Diversity!) meeting. The year after the Diversity (All hail Diversity!) Town Hall meeting I had to attend a Diversity (All hail Diversity!) Awareness Workshop. I told about that joyous event in my May 15 post. I also told about this year's Diversity (All hail Diversity!) meeting which was a real fun event also.
A few years back, we had another Diversity (All hail Diversity!) Town Hall meeting. I dutifully drove to the site, and, lo and behold, there was not enough handicapped parking. Since I'm a cripple and Diversity (All hail Diversity!) aware, this came as a complete shock to me. How could a town hall meeting designed to ram Diversity (All hail Diversity!) down our throats, be so Diversity (All hail Diversity!) unaware as to not have enough handicapped parking for a Diversity (All hail Diversity!) group? Dammit! I'm a cripple! My group is on the visual! I'm pissed!
So I have to park way far away from the convention center and hobble (I walk with braces and crutches) on over. I get inside and make a beeline for the coffee and pastries. I eat my pastries, drink my coffee, make sure I'm seen by my manager, and leave. Got more important stuff to do than to listen to this bullshit again. I saw the movie once. It sucked. Don't need to see it again. On my way out one of my friends saw me and asked where I was going. Back to the office. Can I ride with you? Sure.
At TCIDNN we have a program where we can vent to upper management, completely confidential, about various company policies. When I got back to the office, I immediately vented my displeasure at the Diversity (All hail Diversity!) insensitivity displayed by there not being enough handicapped parking. I pointed out the irony that a meeting designed to 'ram Diversity down our throats' (my exact words) did not have enough handicapped parking for one of the diverse groups. I'm on the visual dammit! I got a bullshit reply that told me I should have requested special accommodations. That's not the point. Don't they realize that they're supposed to accommodate me? Bunch of insensitive bastards! But see, I don't expect any special treatment. I don't want to be judged on the merits of being a cripple. I want to be judged on job performance. I was just yanking their chain.
And this is what pisses me off about Diversity (All hail Diversity!) and all the other code words used to protect groups. When I started back to work after my accident, my manager started telling me the things they would do to accommodate me. I was in a wheelchair at the time and was an instructor. He said they'd put in a ramp up to the podium. I told him no problem, I'd be walking soon and I did. My career took off because I outworked everyone else. I didn't want to hear anyone say that the only reason I had a job was because I was disabled. The telling point was the last year I worked for this particular manager. I'd had an incredible workload that year and it had taken its toll and I was exhausted. I went to see my manager and told him I had to slow down. 'I'm not a well man ya know.' 'Oh, what's wrong with you?' 'Uh, you haven't noticed? I'm disabled.' 'Oh, that. I think nothing of that.' And that's just the way it should be.
A few years back, one of my politically incorrect co-workers (You mean you aren't? - No, he's even worse than I am.) and I came up with the perfect mix of Diversity (All hail Diversity) to be completely protected from being dismissed from TCIDNN. You had to be a black, gay, female, over 40 year old, Viet Nam era veteran, with an Hispanic surname. I mean, ya got all the bases covered.
It turns out that we were wrong. Remember, some people are more diverse than others. So, I've decided to set up a point system to show the hierarchy of Diversity (All hail Diversity!)
So now you should all know all about Diversity (All hail Diversity!). And if you don't support Diversity (All hail Diversity!), you're all a bunch of bigotted, racist, homophobes.
Hey Flip! How ya doin'?
I have some unfinished stuff from yesterday and additional thoughts about the 4th of July.
OK I know I'm probably the 3000th blogger who has done this, but go read Lileks bleat from the 4th. I know. I know. You've already read it and I'm just another blogger who thinks Lileks is a god. That's not why I want you to read it. Just read again about the tatoos.
My friend Cindy, who is a nurse, used to work at Shepherd Center. Shepherd is renowned throughout the Southeast as one of the premier spinal cord injury rehab centers. It's where the GOC went when he broke his back. Cindy was a nurse there and that's where I met her. Now spinal cord injuries happen to various types of people: Stupid people doing stupid things (hey Bubba, hold my beer and watch me dive into this creek). Shootings (I wuz just walkin' through the parking lot and I got caught in the crossfire from the drug dealers - Me, involved in drugs? No, not me. That cocaine in my jacket wuz planted there after I wuz shot) Shootings (Me and my husband wuz havin' this here argument and the gun just kinda went off). Motorcycle accidents (Well I did have a few beers and it wuz rainin' and the tires wuz kinda bald). Automobile accidents (Hand me another beer - bet I can get this sucker over 120 miles per hour). From her eight years working on the floor she discovered one very strange correlation. She calls it the tatoo to teeth ratio. If the person has more tatoos than teeth, chances are he will survive just about anything. She and her husband watch all these reality shows that shows accidents and stuff and she'll tell Michael, her husband, 'Look at all the tatoos. And look, he's got hardly any teeth. He's gonna walk away with almost no injuries. By golly, she's right more than she's wrong. And another thing, if she saw these people at Shepherd, often she'd get to see 'em again. Ignorance can be cured. Stupidity is forever.
Another thing I want to talk about is Cynthia McKinney. Oh Lord, can't you just give it a rest already? No, I can't. She pisses me off just by existing. Every Fourth of July, Beautiful Dunwoody Georgia has a parade down Mount Vernon Highway. At one time when Beautiful Dunwoody Georgia was in the country, Mount Vernon Highway was a highway. Now it is just a two lane street that runs right through the heart of Beautiful Dunwoody Georgia.
Acccording to a listener who e-mailed Neal Boortz, our local Libertarian talk show host, Cynthia was in the parade this year. His e-mail:
I was in Dunwoody yesterday to watch their Independence Day parade, and then celebrate with my extended family (my stepfather's house is 1 block off the parade route). This being an election year, we of course saw a number of candidates. Now, it's a 4th of July parade, so one would think an essential component for every person and vehicle in the parade would be say, a few American flags, some red, white, and blue bunting, etc. Not so for Cynthia McKinney. Her campaign car was the only one in the parade without a single American flag, and not so much as a red, white and blue ribbon in her hair. I think that says quite enough about her and her supporters.
Neal's comment: The writer did not mention if Cynthia’s car sported any flags from Arab nations.
My comment: The writer did not mention if there were any hammer and sickle emblems on her car. She's not called the cutest little communist in Congress for nothing.
Anyway, what was she doing in a parade in Dunwoody? No one up here votes for her anyway. The only people who live in Beautiful Dunwooody Georgia are a bunch of white racist bigots and Jews. I drove along the parade route today and, although there were whole big bunches of campaign signs on front lawns, there was not a single Cynthia McKinney for Congress sign. I'll bet during the parade all that was going through her mind, or what passes for one in her case, was 'Damn honkies! Why am I even in this parade? Look at all those white MF's? What a f'ing waste of my valuable time!'
I've been mentioning lately that I've been agreeing with Cynthia Tucker, who edits the Opinion section of the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation, a lot lately. Either I'm losing my mind or she's getting smarter. But, there is still at least one dyed in the wool liberal working at that AJC. His name is Jay Bookman and he wrote this column yesterday about capitalism.
Here's a great idea: Let's take the money generated by Social Security taxes and invest it in the stock market, where it is certain to grow and grow and grow so that when we all retire at a young age we'll live like kings and queens,
Jay, I just pulled my 401(K) statement and even in the down market, my money has almost doubled. I may not live like a king or queen, but I'll be doing OK. I wish I could have done the same with the money I've had to put in the Ponzi scheme known as Social Security (which is not social and is not any where close to security). Then, with my 401(K), my IRA's and my other investments I would live like a king.
where money grows on trees, and the sun shines every day, and the profit's high, and they never lie, on the Big Rock Candy Mountain.
Here Jay is using sarcasm. Way to go Jay. Ha Ha Ha
And here's another idea: We should abolish "government schools" and turn our children's education over to business executives who will demand the same sort of excellence, honesty and accountability that have made such successes of companies such as WorldCom and Global Crossing and Enron.
Aha! Another liberal trick. Let's compare apples and oranges. Because some companies have been dishonest all companies operate the same way, therefore, any company that would take over education would be dishonest and fraudulent. The reason some of us want to privatize schools is for accountability. I mean, do you think they could possibly do worse than the Atlanta public school system, which wastes $13,000 per pupil and manages to be one of the worst school systems in the country? Look Jay, believe it or not I do care about education for inner city children. The best route out of poverty is education. I want to solve poverty in this country as much as you do and it is not done with failing schools and a patronizing attitude towards blacks. I'm getting sick and tired of you bloody liberals telling blacks that they are dumber than whites by holding them to lower standards. Oh, and 400 years of oppression. Mustn't forget that.
Oh, and while we're on the subject, we need to get government regulators out of the way of the Internet revolution,
Hey! Jay and I agree on something!
where they're nothing more than Old Economy dinosaurs. And let's run government like a business, by golly.
Hey another good idea. Ya know when the gummint shuts down and they tell all nonessential workers to stay home? If they're nonessential, why are they working (maybe I should say employed - no that doesn't work either - what would you call drones?)? I have to pause here and tell a story about when I used to fix typewriters. If the customer had a maintenance agreement, they got unlimited service calls and two inspections/cleanings a year. I had a gummint account and they had the cleanest typewriters I have ever seen. I went in one time to clean their machines and all the ladies were sitting around reading the paper. One put her paper down and turned to another lady and said 'Are you ready to go on break?' What? These are my tax dollars here! I mean it's like the George Carlin joke , 'What do cats do on their day off? They can't lay around and do nothing all day. That's their job.' And before you cat lovers complain, I have two cats: Doofus and Ashley.
And let's pay those wonderful CEOs what they're worth.
OK If we can pay Congresscritters what they're worth. Cynthia, you're now getting $1 per hour.
And let the free market be free.
Jay, have you been reading Milton Friedman?
And let the Dow Jones rise to 30,000.
Awwwww. He's using sarcasm again
And . . .
SLAP!
How'd he know I wanted to slap him?
It's been a painful slap, too.
If I'd been able to slap you it would have been very painful.
Tens of thousands of jobs have been lost. Retirement assets fell by $540 billion
between 1999 and 2001 and have fallen considerably since then.
Jay, it's called a recession. Also, the market was horribly overpriced. People got caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment and thought every dot com was gonna make millions without examing what their business model was. In the normal business cycle these things happen. Yeah, it sucks! Jobs have been lost. But, let's go back to 1988 and see where we were then as compared to where we are now. We're still way ahead of the game. And, we'll get going again. You're doing what you liberals accuse those rotten CEO's and CFO's of doing: You're looking at the short term and not the long term.
Millions of
investors have been burned,
That happens if they do not want to take the time to do some analysis of the companies they're investing in and they do not diversify.
and financial experts now talk gloomily of losing a
generation of investors to the market, just as the market collapse of 1929
permanently scared off an earlier generation.
See above.
International confidence in the U.S.
economy -- until now part of the foundation of our prosperity -- has been badly
shaken, and the dollar is falling rapidly as foreign investors pull out of American
companies.
Jay. Jay. Jay. Where else are they gonna put their money? Yeah, the dollar is dropping. Know why? Our balance of trade deficit. This makes our exports cheaper. Not necessarily a bad thing.
And every few days, it seems, another major company is revealed to have been
cooking its books, another top CEO is discovered to have enriched himself
personally at the expense of his company and its shareholders.
Yeah, and this too will pass. But I think we should take these guys and instead of sending them to country club prisons, send them in with the really bad criminals. 'Hi, I'm Bubba. You gonna be my new bitch.' Hey, why don't we do that with corrupt politicans? I know one who would be biting his lip so hard he'd bite it off. I bet that would clean up corporate America real quick.
But in our newfound appreciation for straight accounting, we should at least be
honest about our own role in this mess. It wasn't just the CEOs, or the business
press, or the free-market purists, or the talk show simplifiers. For a while there, we
all got carried away. The talk was exhilarating, the fever contagious, and the stock
market was magically transformed into a casino or sporting event.
A rare lucid moment.
As we learned, when you're standing at the roulette wheel and every bet seems to
be paying off, and the pile of chips at your side keeps getting bigger and bigger, it's
easy to believe that it will always be -- should always be -- exactly like this. So we
let our guard down.
And another.
We knew that government regulators were being called off the case, and we
accepted and even embraced their defanging, because they might spoil the party.
We knew, or at least sensed, that the "analysts" on the business TV shows were
really just shills, and we tolerated that too, because while they enthused and
gushed, they were driving the market higher.
This is getting scary. He's still making sense.
In other words, we did this to ourselves, and it's hypocritical to pretend otherwise.
Every con requires an eager sucker, and this one found millions.
Jay! They're gonna kick you out of the liberal columnists club. You're talking about personal responsibility. This is unbelievable!
That's certainly not a plea for leniency for those who lied, cheated, stole and
defrauded. They should be treated harshly, to restore public confidence in the
system and to serve as examples the next time we might be tempted into such a
spree.
Yep. Lock 'em up with Bubba and his buddies. Works for me.
Nor is it an argument for refusing to tighten our regulatory and oversight systems, as
some in Congress and the Bush administration still argue, if a little less directly with
each passing week. It's always hard to find the right balance between
no-holds-barred, ruin-the-fools capitalism and the type of stifling overregulation that
kills growth and innovation.
By golly he's right again. Tho' usually less regulation works best.
But given recent revelations, it seems safe to conclude that the current system is
significantly out of kilter. Modern capitalism is not strictly a matter of competition; to
function well it also requires checks and balances.
That's right, but, unfortunately, you liberals tend to go overboard and overregulate. I just hope you don't try that now. We've had an accounting firm go out of business. (Boss, the auditor from Andersen is here. How do you know? He has a seeing eye dog with him.) I think the remaining firms are gonna try to make sure they really look closely at the companies they audit.
For a while, we got seduced into forgetting that.
I can think of some socialists who have never forgotten government regulation. Unfortunately, this will further their socialist agenda.
But let's see where we are a year from now.
Since my sister is expecting a blog from me, I'll do one today.
I'm currently on the phone with work, trying to talk my team lead through a network recovery. We had a massive power outage yesterday when some thunder boomers rolled through Atlanta in the afternoon. Normally we wouldn't worry about getting everything up, but we have some users in Brazil (Don't they celebrate the 4th? They don't? Why not? Another country? Really? I know. I know. I'm just pretending I just graduated from an Ivy League college. Those who read Lileks latest screed know what I'm talking about. No. No link. You should have him bookmarked or in your favorites if you use IE), who want access to our systems. All the critical stuff is on a UPS, but we have some ESCON Directors that aren't and naturally the connecting channels went through a director that didn't power up clean.
So I'm talking my team lead through all the recovery stuff he has to do. Ahhh. A power outage. The gift that keeps on giving. We've been meaning to move the rest of the critical stuff on to the UPS, but, we don't have a full time hardware plannner to manage the project. I could do it, but since my manager dropped my rating, I'm just not as gung ho as I used to be. Anyway, he calls me from the main console area, and I talk him through some stuff. Then It's out on the floor. Nope the switch says it has a problem. Let's try another thing. Back to the main console area. Enter these commands. Nope, still problems. OK, can't remember the configuration off the top of my head. Log on to this system. Where does the channel go? Uh oh. It goes through the switch. OK. Back out on the floor. Let's try the tried and true method. Power off. Power on. (The switch is controlled by a PC). Nope. Hmmmm. Look! The keyboard is unplugged. Plug in keyboard. Try again. How did keyboard get unplugged? BTSOM (Beats the shit outa me). OK. Now it works. Back to main console area. Log on to the four affected systems. Attach and vary on appropriate devices. Enter all these neat network commands. On these systems we have VTAM. Only old farts like me know anything about VTAM. GOC has a real good memory (tho' not as good as it used to be. My sister who is four years older is having the same problems). OK. All the affected systems go active on SAMON.
'But don't you have TCPIP?', I hear you readers ask. Of course we have TCPIP. But, for some strange reason, the folks in Brazil want to come in using SNA. But what is SNA? Systems Network Architecture. Something very old and true. And let's not forget reliable. It's very reliable. Damn dinosaur. You old farts always bitch about TCPIP and Microsoft. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.
So back to my team lead. Do we need to fix the rest of the paths? Nah. I'll do that Monday morning. And by the way, when our EPS (Empty Polo Shirt) boss wants to skill rebalance me out the door later this year to save money, I want you to remember the hour-and-a-half we spent on the phone today.
I used to be team lead, but I made two mistakes:
So let this be a lesson for you. Never, ever tell a manager the truth. Always tell them what they want to hear.
The upside of not being team lead, is I don't have to go in to work on emergencies, I still make the same amount of money, I don't have to work as hard, and I have less responsibilities. The downside is ... uh, let me think ... Wait a minute! There is no downside.
So now I'm gonna go outside and finish putting in some brick edging, but I'll be back and start on what I really want to discuss today.
I'm back.
Before I start, I would like to thank alert reader Christopher Hlatky for telling me the fix for the format problem. And if I were a better with html, it wouldn't have happened. I wanted to write as if I were talking real slow. I should have done it the way Andrea did it (scroll up) when talking about the 2000 election. I feel a rant coming on.
I thought the Democrats catch phrase was 'Let's move on'. Let's move on. And as long as we're talking about moving on, can't we just give this slavery thing a rest? Yeah, slavery was bad, but Jesus H. Christ, ya'll don't have the freaking franchise on it! Slavery bad. Lot's of Americans died to end it. And ever since the 60's there's been a lot of liberal guilt and that's why we have affirmative action and that's why we have to have lower admission standards to colleges because of 400 years of freaking oppression. Wait a minute! If they are just as smart why do we have to lower standards. Because of 400 years of oppression and the SAT is culturally biased. What freaking culture is that? English is English and 1+1=2 (unless base 2 and then it's 10). Well speaking English is not the culture of blacks and there's this 400 years of oppression thing. They be speaking ebonics. Then they not be getting any freaking jobs. I know. 400 years of oppression. Look this is America. We speak English here. There are two problems: The public school system sucks, especially in the inner city, and black children who work hard in school are accused of acting white.
The problem with the government school system is the government school system. The leftists keep saying we should throw more money at them, while they are sending their children to private schools. Guess where Jesse Jackson's kids went to school? Private schools. Al Sharpton. Private schools. As much as I dislike Jimmy Carter, at least he was not a hypocrite about education. He sent Amy to a government school in DC. I'm really pissed about the leftists who are writing off an entire race of people. They don't educate them and then they tell them they are not smart enough to get into college (if not why do they insist upon lower admission standards? - oh yeah, I forgot 400 years of oppression) and they are not smart enough to get a job (if not why affirmative action? - oh yeah, we have to make up for 400 years of oppression). It's not us bigoted white folks who are calling them dumb. It's their friends.
C'mon. Let's fix the government schools. I'm very glad that vouchers were declared contitutional. Maybe they won't work, but they can't work any worse than what we have now.
And now about slavery. Slavery has been around forever. The abolition of slavery is a fairly recent policy. And it was a bunch of of white people who did it. The English abolished it and we fought a very bloody war to end it. Guess where slavery still exists?
Sorry Cynthia. Try Africa and many Arab countries. But, I'll give you another chance. During the slave trade, who sold the slaves to the slave traders?
Had to be the Jews.
Wrong again. The slave ships pulled up to the African coast and the slaves were sold to the white traders on the ships by the blacks on the coast. It was your own brothers and sisters who sold you into slavery. Just like you, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the rest of the poverty pimps are selling American blacks down the river by not demanding that they take responsiblity for their lives by staying in school and studying and by not having children they cannot afford. Keep 'em poor. Keep 'em on the plantation. And keep 'em voting Democrat. Everything is the fault of white people and Jews. And let's not forget 400 years of oppression.
Ok. Let's get to what I really wanted to write about today. We got someone else who wants to join Alec Baldwin, Martina Navratilova, Tom Cruise, and Robert Altman (another alert reader corrected me as I said Roger Altman in an earlier blog and I forgot who he was. He's a fellow blogger and I feel bad about not giving him credit where credit is due) in leaving the country. It's Bob Weidinger who wrote an essay in today's Atlanta Urinal and Constipation, titled What America has become is reason to leave. Bob is a teacher, which may explain some of his essay.
I was raised with the belief that the United States was the most perfect place on the planet.
So far, so good. I can't think of a country with more freedom.
I embraced the values taught in school and I believed them -- that this was a nation based on law, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution.
He must have gone to school a long time ago. But in his picture he doesn't look that old. Maybe he went to a private school. Now they teach that the Constitution is a 'living document' and it's bogus because it counted black slaves as 3/5 of a person. The Declaration of Independence is a 'flawed document' because it didn't include black slaves. We've already talked about this. Let's move on.
that this is true and yet I am thinking of emigrating. While the rest of the people of the world seek to come to these shores, for one born here it may be time to leave.
When ya gonna leave? Where ya gonna go?
I served my country in the armed forces. For the first and only time in my life, I swore an oath, gave my word. In order to accept my commission I willingly accepted that if called upon to do so, I would give my life for my country. I would do so then and I would do so now. But now I wonder what it is I would die for.
Wait a minute! This guy may be all right after all. He served in the military. He served his country.
We have been constantly bombarded with news of malfeasance, corruption, conspiracies and cover-ups. From corporate fraud and energy transfer shell games to immoral priests and politicians and the constant erosion of our cherished constitutional rights, it seems that all of the institutions that America has held up to the world as shining examples to follow were, in fact, just gilded to cover the fundamental rottenness at their cores.
What's going on here? I agree with every thing he's saying. And eight years of the Clintons took corruption to a new level. So why should we be so surprised about what's going on?
We air our dirty laundry for all the world to see when it is uncovered, but to what purpose?
It's called a free press and an open society. Hopefully if we expose enough corruption, the people, like, maybe you and I, might just demand that something be done about it.
We bandage the hemorrhage occurring in our society, doing just enough to divert our attention to other issues. Punishments do not fit the crimes,
And why do you think that is Bob? Could it be the left. Could it be the crap we're teaching our children in the government schools? Everybody's a freaking (I really wanted to use another word here, but my sister told me to clean up my language) victim!
justice is a worthy concept that is just that -- a dream, words spoken to appease. And soon, though the schemes may be different, the evil shows its head again in a different guise.
Maybe if we quit teaching moral relativism in our schools. Maybe if we quit teaching victimology in our schools. Maybe if we had booted Clinton out of office instead of letting him get away with everything and letting our kids see how it's done. And yes, I'm a Clinton hater. But, can't we just move on? OK. I'll make you a deal. If Clinton will just shut up and go away, I'll quit hating him. As it is he serves as a fine example of corruption and immorality.
We, the people, I hold most responsible for the current state of affairs. It seems we have abdicated our responsibilities as citizens. Our attention spans are such that no matter how vile the corruption that is discovered and uncovered, we soon turn our attention to more important matters -- deifying the life and death of minor entertainment celebrities, reality TV, more consumption of consumer goods we go into debt for. As long as we have our SUVs, our six TVs, 450-square-foot closets filled with stuff we no longer even know we have and plenty of diversions for the weekend, we seem content.
Dammit! There he goes. He's making sense again. Don't worry. It ain't gonna last.
And so I wonder if it is time for me to emigrate from the country of my birth. Who is the more patriotic, the one who stays or the one who leaves?
What is this? A trick question? The one who stays.
Though I would still pick up arms and fight to the death to protect my country from an invader, I wonder if I can truly say that I am willing to die for what my country has become.
So, your solution is to run away? Is that what you teach your students? Run away from problems? Remember the 60's? There were two slogans: America. Love it or leave it. or America. Fix it or lose it (or was it change it or lose it?). Bob, I believe a lot of what you wrote, but it doesn't make me want to leave. Look at me. I started blogging. There are a lot of others in the blogosphere and at places like Free Republic who believe that there are problems in this country. We are doing the best we can to fix them. And I think it's beginning to work. Without Mat Drudge breaking stories about Clinton that the main stream press was sitting on, we may have not had impeachment. We have Fox News which, despite what the leftists would have you believe is balanced, unlike CNNABCNBCCBSMSNBC.
From a sense of patriotism, I feel that if I stay I would be giving tacit approval to what is.
Not if you worked to change it. That's what being a citizen of this country should entail.
There are those who may say that to leave is cowardly,
Hey Bob! Look over here! I'm one of 'em.
that it would be better to stay and fight from within.
Yep. I'd be one of 'em. And I'm doing my best. I could use a little help.
But tilting at windmills has never proved very effective.
OK Don Quixote. Run off to a better place. When you find it, will you let the rest of us know where it is? With an attitude like that, I've only got one name for you: Loser.
And I finished in time to post today. And now it's off to Michael and Cindy's for dinner. We'll have barbecue and probably knock off three bottles of wine. And we will be glad to be Americans. All three of us vote. And every election we vote against Cynthia McKinney.
Bob, Delta is ready when you are.
Say hello to Alec, Robert, Martina, and Tom for me.
Well just let me count the ways.
But first, since I was originally gonna fisk a Molly Ivins column, but was beaten out by James on Monday (a grappa toast to you, Mr.DiBenedetto), I've dug into my archives for my very first takedown of Molly. It's right here.
Today, I want to talk about Microsoft. I hate Bill Gates. I really do. My friends, knowing that I am a libertarian, asked me how I felt when the gummint went after Microsoft. As a libertarian, I was pissed. As a user, go git 'em! Yeah Yeah Yeah I don't have to use Microsoft. I could buy an Apple product. And I must admit, Apple has amazed me. A proprietary business model usually fails. A prime example is the Beta format on Sony VCR's. Beta was far superior to VHS, but since it would only run on Sony VCR's, VHS won. Apple still has a small core of dedicated users who rave about their product.
I'm also not that happy with IBM. They had a five year headstart with OS/2, and didn't take advantage of it. They had a multitasking OS, as I said, five years before Windows 95. And it didn't crash as much as Windows 95, either. But, as usual, the rocket scientist managers in the PC division of IBM, let Gates take them to the cleaners. I loved OS/2. Unfortunately, it got caught in a catch 22. Not too many people wrote programs for it since no one ran it. And no one ran it because no one wrote programs for it. It could run programs written for Windows prior to Windows 95. But after Windows 95, that started to go away. Bummer. I had to either go Windows or Apple. Even IBM gave up on it. About the only place IBM runs it is on the service processors and the hardware consoles for their mainframes, uh, I mean high end servers. And, I've heard that that OS will soon be replaced by Linux. OS/2 RIP.
As a techno prima donna, as described by Scott Adams, in the Joy of Work, I sometimes am reluctant to embrace new technology. When I had a coax attached dumb terminal, capable of four SNA sessions, I could be logged on to four separate systems and I didn't have to worry about my bloody PC locking up. Don't get me wrong. PC's are neat, but I hate to have to reboot three times a day. Us old fart mainframe programmers are just not used to that. It's inexcusable. Now, I've heard that XP is a hell of a lot more stable. Geez, I sure hope so. Maybe if Microsoft weren't a virtual monopoly and had some decent competition, they'd be able to give me a stable OS.
The reason I'm pissed now is I'm running Windows 98 (motto: You shoulda waited for Windows 2000. This release sucks) on my home PC and it is a piece of crap. I swear, some of their code must look sumpin' like this:
check reg(fu) /* check fu register */
if reg(fu)=ff /* threshold */
set counter(po)=0 /*set piss off counter to 0*/
then go to routine(fu) /* go to fu routine */
else continue /* continue normal operation */
exit
/***************fu routine************/
routine(fu)
pull date
if date=even
then go to routine(bsod)
else go to routine(lockup)
exit
/**************Blue Screen of Death Routine*****************/
routine(bsod)
here
get image(bsod) /*get bogus blue screen of death image*/
wait /*wait for user interrupt*/
go to here /*loop back to top. Eventually user will power off or give three finger salute*/
exit
/******************Lockup Routine****************/
routine(lockup)
here1
freeze /*freeze and wait for three finger salute*/
input (altctldel)
put up waiting for app menu
go to here1 /*loop back to top and randomly decide when will actually reboot or force user to power off*/
exit
And now the boot up after crash routine
routine(bootupac)
do lots of disk accesses
display Windows 98 logo
go to routine(scandisk)
exit
/**************scan disk routine**************/
routine(scandisk)
say 'Because Windows was not properly shut down one or more of your disk drives may have errors.'
say'To avoid having this happening in the future, shutdown Windows 98 using the Shutdown option'
run scandisk
pull counter(po) /*see if this is first time thru. If so, make him do it again. If not, come up ok*/
if counter(po)=0
then add 1
go to routine(fu)
else go to continue /*continue normal boot up*/
It just drives me up the wall!
I tried to install some tunneling code on my home PC that would allow me to tunnel thru my ISP and get to my systems at work. Unfortunately, it was only supported on Windows 95 and Windows 2000. Did I mention I'm running Windows 98? But what the hell? Why not try the 95 code with 98. I can always remove it right? So I did. It didn't work. I removed it. Internet Explorer now didn't work. This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. Illegal? No! It's not illegal yet! The lawsuit is still being appealed! No problem, I'll just download the latest and greatest, IE 6, and install it. I did. Now when I fire up IE, it's not illegal anymore. Now, it just says there's a problem, takes a dump, and asks me if I want the error sent off to Microsoft. Sure, why not? So off it goes to Microsoft, where it will probably be a source of amusement. 'Ha Ha He's hosed. He's either gonna have to reinstall or get a new OS. More money for us.'
So, I decide, maybe the install of IE 6 didn't go right. So I go to reinstall and I get a message that IE 6 is broken. Would I like to have it fixed. Hell yeah! Fix that sucker. So I watch the progress and I get, all fixed and I would have to restart my computer. No problem. I'm a pro at rebooting. Do it all the time. I reboot, dial up my ISP and start up IE. 'IE has a problem and can no longer continue. Would you like to have the error information sent to Microsoft?' Sure why not. It can join the other error info that's sitting there in Redmond being ignored.
My other browser is Netscape 4.7. I went to Netscape 6.2 at work, but I'm afraid to do it here because if that gets hosed, I'm stuck. I do have a laptop I can use, but I'm a rotten typist and my blogs would take longer to write.
Now I'm thinking, maybe I'll just dump all my apps and reinstall 98 from the CD's that came with the machine. But, if I'm gonna go to all that, I may as well just go out and buy XP.
Or, I could wait for Microsoft to go over my dumps and send me a fix.
Yeah, and Cynthia McKinney is gonna shut up.
Well Tonto, it looks like our mission here has been a success. Why you say that, Kemo Sabe? Because I have managed to piss someone off big time. Hmmm..Who that, Kemo Sabe? Why it's none other than the InstaPundit Watcher, obviously someone who has decided to take on the Professor. For some reason she has decided to smear him, or at least try to. Maybe she was a student and he failed her. And crap! She called what I wrote crap! Would that be horsecrap or bullcrap, Kemo Sabe? Dammit, Tonto it doesn't matter. What does matter is I looked at my site meter today, and, at that time, out of the last 100 hits I took, 27 came from her page. She's sending people my way! That means I'm probably pissing even more people off. I can hear it now: 'Who was that guy who wrote that crap?' 'You don't know? Why that was the Grouchy Old Cripple!' Hi yo wheelchair! Away!
And speaking of crap, did anyone catch the op-ed Jimmy Carter wrote in USA Today? Jimmy, please, foreign affairs was not your forte during your presidency. I seem to remember a little problem with Iran. Come to think of it, you weren't all that good on domestic affairs either. You have been a real good ex-president. And as long as you're building houses for the poor, you're a really great guy. But, cmon, it's bad enough that we got Cynthia McKinney to embarrass us, why do you have to compete with her in the output of inane blather?
So without further ado, Jimmah tells us what needs to be done in the Middle East.
Recently, Emory Professor Kenneth Stein and I spread a detailed map on my office floor and examined the hundreds of strategically planted Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, each surrounded by a military force and connected by a web of guarded highways. The remaining unoccupied Palestinian lands appeared as small, isolated red splotches.
Red. How appropriate since the Palis want to spill as much blood as possible.
Ken indicated the $350 million barrier of fences and trenches being built northeast of Jerusalem. This, he noted, may represent the ultimate desire of most Palestinians and Israelis: a permanent and impenetrable separation of the two peoples.
For the Israelis. Yes. For the Palestinians, unless they are deprogrammed, nothing less than the total destruction of Israel is acceptable. Haven't you guys been listening? Arafat has made no secret of his 'final solution'.
Sadly, such isolation already exists in the policies of Israel, the Palestinians and the USA. Each lacks real support outside its own political circles. Unless other parties come forward to bridge these divides, there is little hope to offer those suffering from daily violence.
Once again, the Israelis were willing to give land for peace. It was Arafat who walked away from what was probably the best offer the Palestinians will ever get, emptied the jails, and started up the violence. And this has been a pattern. Over the last fifty years the Palestinians have had many opportunities for peace. Unfortunately, their version of peace is the total destruction of Israel. Attention Israelis! Drop your weapons and move slowly to the sea. Start swimming.
Given these barriers, it's easy to despair for this troubled region, perhaps even to consider real progress impossible. Reassurance comes from examining the Middle East peace process as a long series of historic and often unexpected steps forward:
Usually followed by very bloody steps backwards.
Until Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's startling Jerusalem visit and the subsequent 1979 peace treaty, Arab diplomatic recognition of Israel was inconceivable.
And we all remember what happened to Sadat after making this bold move.
When Jordan's King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made a similar pledge 15 years later, there was no concerted Arab boycott of Jordan as there had been of Egypt, indicating wide acceptance of Hussein's decision.
Acceptance? Jimmah, what kinda drugs have you been on? The boycott of Egypt didn't work because we give them $3 billion a year. And obviously Hussein had better bodyguards than Sadat.
In 1993, the Norwegians proved in Oslo that Rabin could deal directly with Yasser Arafat as the Palestinians' leader. On both sides, this was an unprecedented recognition of the other's legitimacy
Except Yasser never did get around to taking out that part of the PLO charter calling for the destruction of Israel. 'Damn, forgot to do that! But these infidels are so desperate for peace they'll believe anything.'
With Israel's encouragement and later approval, Palestinians conducted a peaceful, transparent election in 1996, which my center monitored, and chose a president and Palestinian Authority members who were universally accepted as legitimate.
What a strange choice of words: transparent election. Transparent to Jimmy maybe. Did he look at the ballot?
Such positive changes encourage the search for a just and lasting peace. Except for the Oslo agreement, success came with balanced U.S. involvement. Our mediators treated both adversaries with equal respect and let them freely present their views, convinced that an agreement was a victory for both.
See Abdul. I told you those Americans would believe anything we said.There have been other significant developments. Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed normal relations with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from occupied Arab lands to the June 1967 line and its just treatment of Palestinian refugees.
What an agreement! Move back behind indefensible borders and take in a whole big bunch of Palestinian refugees who would then outnumber all the Jews. Let's hold elections. Jews are expelled. 'See Abdul. I told you it would work.'
This unprecedented possibility of peace between Israel and the entire Arab world is widely accepted in the region.
Yeah, unconditional surrender by Israel does sound like a plan that would be accepted in the region. Hey, Jimmah, when are you gonna run for President of France?
President Bush took another important step in September, when he called for a Palestinian state.
He did say they were gonna have to dump Yasser and quit killing Jews. Two things that don't look to probable about now.
Still, violence persists, threatening to negate or reverse many of these proud achievements.
I'm confused. Name one proud achievement. I guess Jimmy is too. The only proud achievement of his Presidency was screwing up so bad that he guaranteed the election of Ronald Reagan. As bad as Jimmy was, Ronald McDonald could have probably defeated him. And he would have done a better job of running the country.
Some misguided Palestinians
Yasser Arafat, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, and pretty much of the rest of the Palestinians. Did I leave anyone out?
honor suicide bombers as martyrs and celebrate the killing of Israeli civilians.
Blam! Another busload of fierce Israeli warriors. Ain't we brave?
Some Israelis believe their West Bank and Gaza settlements to be sacrosanct and try to justify the sustained subjugation of increasingly hopeless Palestinians.
Ahhh the settlements. The Palestinians should have made peace over twenty years ago and there would be no settlements to even talk about. The settlements, just like everything else, are negotiable. Unfortunately, and Arafat has made no secret of this, his ultimate goal is the total destruction of Israel. Jimmy, wake up! Have you been listening?
The United States has now joined almost all other nations in accepting the basic premises of Israeli withdrawal, peace between Arab states and Israel, and a Palestinian state.
Now if we could just convince the Arabs and the Palestinians. It's this peace with Israel thing they seem to have problems with. It's this existence of Israel thing they seem to have problems with.
This is a notable decision, but further progress is undermined by our almost undeviating approval of Israel's demands
Yeah, we want them Palestinains to quit blowin' themselves up around those fierce Jewish women and children. I know this is an unreasonable demand, but it's the least they can do.
and our refusal to deal with the Palestinian leaders who are apt to be re-elected in January.
OK Jimmy, here's the deal. We don't want to deal with terrorists. We don't want to deal with people who are chronic liars. Yasser Arafat is a lying terrorist. If they are serious about joining the world of civilized nations, they need to elect leaders who are civilized. That pretty much leaves Arafat out. I mean, even Colin 'we must continue with the peace process' Powell has given up on Arafat.
The situation seems likely to fester until then, and perhaps long afterward.
Yep. And it's the Palestinians' choice. We've already had too many nations run by thugs. Nazi Germany comes to mind. Hey, they liked to kill Jews too didn't they?
The often-surprising past achievements show we cannot abandon the search for a just peace.
I'm sorry he's lost me here. Could he be talking about the farce that was Oslo?
But there cannot be another historic step without negotiation among the principal parties, because any unilateral concessions are almost inconceivable.
A rare lucid moment. Oh, wait a minute. I bet what he means by a unilateral concession is the Palestinians not strappin' on bombs and blowin' themselves up and seeing how many women and children they can take with them. And remember, Islam is a religion of peace.
With the United States aligned today with Israel and making demands that Palestinians will not accept,
Not accept? Stop terrorism? Jimmy, we declared war on terrorism. You might have been out of the country then solving civil rights problems in Zimbabwe. 'Y'know those damn white farmers just won't leave their land. I know. Let's call Jimmy Carter.' Jimmy, Israel has stated over and over again that it will trade land for peace. It turned over 40% of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority which, in violation of Oslo I might add, turned into a staging area for an incipient Palestinian Army. Then, Arafat, walked away from negotiations and emptied the jails and started the violence. I realize that you would like the Israelis to lay down their arms and allow the Palestinians to slaughter them, but they are made of sterner stuff than you. Geez, you make Neville Chamberlain look like a raging war hawk!
other world leaders — perhaps in the Arab world,
Strike one
Europe
Strike two
or the United Nations
Strike three. Yer outa there!
— now need to share responsibility, as in Oslo, for the progress that must come.
Jimmy, I know you mean well, but...Look. Here's a hammer. Here's some nails. And here's some lumber. Go build a house.
And build it in Hillary's village.