Save me, shoot me...

Amuse me during this endless training!!!

Crossing the 1 hour mark on irrelevant but mandatory training... You know me, unless I'm actually engaged in the meeting, 45 minutes is all I'm good for. Then I become a loose cannon...I start looking for ways to entertain myself... Not a good thing here in an organization-wide session where my "charming" quirks might not be appreciated... At the old place, a big meeting was <30 people who knew each other very well, where mischief was not only accepted but anticipated. They were also smart--they kept us fed during excessively long meetings. In other words, they treated us like the children we were... :)

So, help keep JD in a job! Reply to this thread with a joke or interesting link or anecdote!

Substitute any minority into this letter

This is a letter to the editor from The Daily Texan (blatantly lifted from Echaton, one of the great political blogs):

When weighing the benefits and the drawbacks of the PATRIOT Act, it is clear to most Americans that preventing future acts of terrorism is much more important than trying not to offend Muslims in this country. American Muslims should see it as their patriotic duty to undergo more intense scrutiny than the average American. It only makes sense to do so if we are serious about combating terrorism. Turning away from the fact that an organization made up entirely of Muslims seeks our destruction is a fatal error in judgement.

Americans should not deny jobs or services to American Muslims, but we should not pretend that there are not hundreds in this country that are plotting to destroy us. Let's not let our feelings get in the way of doing what is right for our protection. Following the course advocated by liberals like Ms. Isensee will only make us more susceptible to attack.

Brendan Steinhauser

Executive director of The Young Conservatives of Texas

This harkens back to my whole theory that the current Conservative Republican mindset is built around intolerance and lack of compassion for those who are different, whether its socio-economically or racially. It harkens to those who advocated the internments of Japanese-Americans during WWII.

Now go back and consider other acts of terrorism. Think Oklahoma City, think abortion clinic bombings. Would Mr. Brendan Steinhauser recommend that white males of a fundamentalist faith also be subjected to the same scrutiny, that they should just "suck it up" as their patriotic duty?

Calling on all you locals...

...So I've been thinking about how ANGRY current events make me. I have an officemate with a son in Iraq and we hear about the conditions, the water shortages, the lack of reliable power, the 149 degree heat...we had the plan to send our boys out there, but we didn't think about the support infrastructure... I think about how our civil liberties are being attacked in the name of patriotism. I hear about Yellowstone being opened up to mining. I hear about how tech jobs are being outsourced to India because Big Business follows the bottom line, not the American line, and cheaper = better in their eyes. (Call it Cheap Labor Conservatism, if you want to call us tax-and-spend liberals). I mean, let's face it, high unemployment is GOOD for corporate America. It helps bring down the cost of labor at home. Big Business doesn't give a crap about America, it cares about making itself richer. That's why I get mad when my conservative Republican high school buddy gives me the tired saw about "Big Business is good for America. Big Business built America." No, hard work built America. Small businesses built America. BUT then small businesses got greedy and GREW into large multination corporations with loyalties to no one, not even their stockholders.

I watch television and the talking heads on Fox and other channels talking about how Arnie is the frontrunner in California, how this would be a such a boost for Bush in 2004, to have the most democratic state in the union under Republican control.

And I read in the papers about the courageous stand the Texas House and Senate Democrats have taken to hold the line on the gerrymandering that Tom DeLay has instigated.

And the outrage keeps building. There comes a point when you ask yourself, do you stand and fight or do you turn and run? Do you start investigating Canada or the Netherlands or maybe Great Britain? Or do you dig in and try and rally people together?

I live in one of the most conservative parts of Florida, the panhandle. People vote Republican because that's what they do. It doesn't matter how badly Bush screws over veterans, they'll still vote for him because that's what military men do. It's a mindset.

So I've been looking over Dean's site for a while now. He's not the most liberal of candidates by a long shot, he's closer to the center than most of the candidates, but for me, he represents a good compromise of fiscal responsibility and social liberalism. And he's willing to say the things many of us are thinking, he's willing to express the outrage. So burning with good intentions, I go to the site to find out what's the closest Meet-up in a 100-mile radius.

There aren't any.

So, comes the crux of the decision. Do I walk the walk or just continue talking? Do I take the initiative and create the Howard Dean Meet-up for that hotbed of conservative Republicanism, Pensacola, Florida? Do I get on that horse and tilt at that windmill? Are there other angry Dems out there who want Howard to give 'em hell? Good, gawd, what am I considering taking on if *I* start this here? Is there someone else who will take that first step toward uniting the angry, disenfranchised Dems?

Edited to add: My bad...someone HAS created a Meet-up; it hasn't met yet, evidently. Whew! I'm good at showing up! Just don't make me lead. ;)

(no subject)

Tbogg, another great and often hilarious political blog, had this gem today:

The Nazi in the woodpile

As a rule I think it is wrong to hold the sins of the father against the son. So I hope that the "Schwarzenegger's father was a Nazi" attacks die swiftly and without notice. I'm not a fan of Arnold, but I think bringing up his father's Nazi past is a cheap shot, especially when there are so many other questions about his ability to govern.

Having said that, I do have a bone to pick with J. Robert Ashcroft for not masturbating on that warm Springfield evening back in August 1941. Talk about unintended consequences....

Irate at titos2cents for showing me this...

::grumble, grumble, grumble::

<td bgcolor="#000000">Name</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td><td bgcolor="#000000">Favorite Color</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td><td bgcolor="#000000">Your fate</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">Reincarnated, dog </td>

The Afterlife, V1.0 by silentounce
Created with quill18's MemeGen!

And using my OTHER favorite wardrobe choice merits me THIS:

<td bgcolor="#000000">Name</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td><td bgcolor="#000000">Favorite Color</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA"></td><td bgcolor="#000000">Your fate</td><td bgcolor="#DDDDAA">Reincarnated,women's bike seat </td>

The Afterlife, V1.0 by silentounce
Created with quill18's MemeGen!

::grumble, grumble, grumble::

Not so bad...

Your Name: jameydee
Your Date of Birth: 09/20/19xx
Your Question or Information:

Past Eihwaz - Banishing magick, removal of obstacles and delays, invoking foresight, clearing up hidden issues and situations.

Present Ing - Fertility, successful conclusion to issue or situation, ending one cycle and beginning another.

Future Lagaz - Intuition, imagination, success in studies, creativity, vitality and passion (especially for women).

Cast the runes here:
Rune Caster

A Must-Read

An analysis on FauxFox news.

Made me laugh!

I just stumbled over this blog, Busy Busy Busy, which takes the talking heads of the day and condenses what they have to say... :)

Interesting

Who the liberal bloggers saw as the All-Time Worst American Figure:

Honorable Mentions: Boss Tweed (5), Roger Taney (5), James Earl Ray (5), Charles Manson (5), Rush Limbaugh (5), Jerry Falwell (5), Roy Cohn (5), Dick Cheney (5), John C. Calhoun (5)

20) The Rosenbergs (3) + Julius Rosenberg (3) (6 total votes)
20) Pat Robertson (6)
20) Oliver North (6)
20) William Randolph Hearst (6)
20) Aaron Burr (6)
20) Aldrich Ames (6)
18) George Lincoln Rockwell (7)
18) Robert McNamara (7)
14) Richard Mellon Scaife (8)
14) Lee Harvey Oswald (8)
14) Charles Coughlin (8)
14) Strom Thurmond (8)
13) Ronald Reagan (9)
12) George Wallace (10)
11) Andrew Jackson (12)
9) Jefferson Davis (13)
9) George W. Bush (13)
6) Benedict Arnold (14)
6) Henry Kissinger (14)
6) John Wilkes Booth (14)
3) Timothy McVeigh (16)
3) Nathan Bedford Forrest (16)
3) J. Edgar Hoover (16)
2) Richard Nixon (25)
1) Joseph McCarthy (26)

Who the right-wing bloggers saw as the All-Time Worst American Figures:

Honorable Mentions: Ted Bundy (5), Jane Fonda (5), John Wayne Gacy (5), John Walker Lindh (5), Joe McCarthy (5), Michael Moore (5), Boss Tweed (5)

17) Franklin Delano Roosevelt (6)
17) John Walker (6)
17) Lee Harvey Oswald (6)
17) Robert Byrd (6)
16) Aldrich Ames (7)
14) Richard Nixon (8)
14) Aaron Burr (8)
12) Al Sharpton (9)
12) Charles Manson (9)
8) Timothy McVeigh (10)
8) Lyndon Johnson (10)
8) Hillary Clinton (10)
8) John Wilkes Booth (10)
7) Alger Hiss (12)
6) Noam Chomsky (13)
4) Jesse Jackson (14)
4) Jimmy Carter (14)
3) Bill Clinton (15)
2) Benedict Arnold (19)
1) The Rosenbergs (15) & Julius Rosenberg (5) (20 total votes)

Musings

I was thinking about the two blogging lists. I find it...ironic? ...interesting? that Jimmy Carter is on the right-wing list. Of course, the Big Dog would be, Bill's penis is to blame for all the world's woes according to that segment of the population, but Jimmy Carter?

Bush ran on this whole claptrap about restoring honor and dignity to the White House, but, really, truthfully, the last president we had who actually walked the walk, who was a good, intelligent, honorable, Christian gentleman was Jimmy Carter. Georgia Tech, Annapolis, literally a rocket scientist, honorably discharged from the Navy... He's spent his post-Presidential life doing humanitarian service.

Why the hatred for Jimmy Carter?

Personally, I would add Dick Cheney and Karl Rove to the liberal list, bumping a few others down.

(no subject)

Behold the power of Photoshop! Fascinating stuff, especially the picture of the woman in the bikini!