We took a pass on watching Kerry's speech the other night, and it doesn't look like we missed much.
Even the NYTimes is saying it was without any real content.
That's gotta sting.
Kerry's trying to be funny, right?
John Kerry said Friday he would put Usama bin Laden on trial in U.S. courts rather than an international tribunal to ensure the "fastest, surest route" to a murder conviction if the terrorist mastermind is captured while he is president.
That's a joke, innit?
Osama should have the same right to a trial as he gave those 3,000+ on 9/11....as in none.
Cut him if he stands and shoot him if he runs.
Even that's better than he deserves.
This says I'm not crazy, so there.
| Freudian Inventory Results |
| Genital (73%) you appear to have a progressive and constructive outlook on life. Latency (36%) you appear to have an irrational view on the value of learning. Phallic (60%) you appear to have a good balance of sexual awareness and sexual composure. Anal (50%) you appear to have a good balance of self control and spontaneity. Oral (53%) you appear to have a good balance of independence and interdependence. |
I'm apparently irrational about the value of learning in part because I "spend a lot of my free time learning about things which have absolutely no practical application".
Like this Accounting II class I have to go to now in which I learn many facets of corporate accounting that I will never use again as long as I live.
At least I hope so.
The construction on I-540 between Springdale & Bentonville is pretty much finished. All that's left is some housekeeping work....and dealing with the more than 700 traffic tickets that were written since April.
Benton County Prosecutor Bob Balfe told his staff he wants violators "hammered. I've instructed my staff to prosecute these cases to the fullest extent of the law"...."Trying to squeeze in at the last minute is not only the height of arrogance -- and rude -- it's a hazard, endangering the lives of construction workers," Balfe said recently. "It also stops the flow of traffic, hurts people trying to get home after work, and even affects the economy."
You go, Bob. I've driven through that mess just about every day, and IMHO, there weren't nearly enough tickets written. I can't tell you how many times I've sat at the end of the line of stopped traffic, teeth clenched and arms braced, waiting to see if the moron who didn't notice the stopped traffic would be able to lock it up & stop before rear-ending me. There were at least two who ran completely off the road to avoid hitting me because they couldn't stop in time even though the stopped traffic was visible for at least 1/2 mile behind me.
Imbeciles.
So I don't have much sympathy for ticketed drivers like this.
Stuckey said she was driving north to shop at Village on the Creeks, and passed a "Do Not Pass" sign. She was in the right lane, so that didn't apply to her situation, she thought. An electronic sign, which was supposed to tell drivers what to do, was turned off. [I call bullshit on that claim. I never saw an unlit sign.]
"The barrels (closing the lane) were still three-quarters of a mile away; if there hadn't been such an inordinate amount of space, the urgency of having to merge would have been more obvious," Stuckey said.
Yeah, like all the signs warning about the closed lane, which start 4 miles before the actual closure weren't obvious enough. The real problem was that like this lady, too many drivers thought the signs didn't apply to them....because they were in a hurry, too important or whatever.
Pay up and shut up, fools.
At an average of $175 per ticket, I'm sure Benton County will be more than happy to collect the fruits of those drivers' stupidity.
Apparently the DNC director didn't realize his CNN mike was live during last night's balloon drop at the end of the convention. (Link via Fark)
Heh.
This warning took a lot of chutzpah, didn't it?
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer had a blunt warning yesterday for Republicans opening their national convention late next month in New York City: Don't politicize the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"We're going to hear a lot about September 11," Mr. Spitzer said about the upcoming convention. "I say this to the Republican Party: With all respect and all deference, do not dare use 9/11 for political purposes."
Mr. Spitzer goes on to say that neither party should politicize 9/11. I agree, but perhaps it would've been more appropriate for Mr. Spitzer to have directed his remarks to those who made Mikie Moore the unofficial poster boy for the Democrat party during the convention. While 9/11 may not have been directly mentioned, it was certainly not-so-subtly evoked at every possible opportunity....including Mikie seated in the 'presidential' box. The subliminal message everywhere was that 9/11 was Bush's fault. Yet Mr. Spitzer seems to believe the Republicans shouldn't be allowed to respond?
Not bloody likely.
Though it would be hard to top Rudy Guliani's response to questions about whether he'd viewed Mikie's 'masterpiece'.
"I can't tell you. I haven't seen it. I don't really need Michael Moore to tell me about September 11."
Too bad the Dems believed otherwise.
Just heard this on the FoxNews channel:
"Stay tuned, because you're about to enter..."
--dramatic pause--
"The. No. Spin. Zone."
No, I'm about to turn the channel because....
--dramatic pause--
Bill. O'Reilly's. On.
I'd rather watch the cat lick her butt. Or Joe Biden speak at the convention on MSNBC.
Six of one, half a dozen of another you know.
You may've already seen it, but if you haven't you should definitely go read this.
As easy as it is to say that we can't abide the president because of the gulf between what he espouses and what he actually does , what haunts me is the possibility that we can't abide him because of us—because of the gulf between his will and our willingness. What haunts me is the possibility that we have become so accustomed to ambiguity and inaction in the face of evil that we find his call for decisive action an insult to our sense of nuance and proportion.
Great article.
Go check it out.
A medical exam revealed that Saddam didn't have a stroke, he has a chronic prostate infection. Seeing as how I don't have a prostate, I don't know exactly what that would feel like, but I hope it's as painful as it sounds.
The most common symptoms include a feeling of having to urinate all the time, pain or burning during urination, discomfort when the bladder is full and having to get up many time each night to urinate.
Vengence is mine, sayeth the Lord....and He delivers it in the most interesting ways sometimes, doesn't He?
Now this is some pig innit? Though I question whether it's really 12 ft. long....maybe some of you with more experience in photography (hint hint Bill) can give a better estimate of its size. One thing's for sure. That's a big ol' red boar.
We have an old saying about few things are meaner than a red hog. Now I don't know how true that is. My maternal grandparents raised hogs when I was a kid, and I don't remember the occasional red ones being any meaner than the others. Though there were a few boars that were so ill-tempered that Granny was the only one who would get in the pen and mess with them. Granny is a tiny, petite lady, what Mike calls a 'bird woman'....like a sparrow. Not even 5 feet tall, and at the time, wouldn't have weighed 90 lbs. soaking wet. But let a couple of big old boars get into a fight, and Granny would sail over the fence and light into the transgressors with her stick. Didn't take Granny long to break up a hog fight, let me tell you.
Granny, you see, was meaner than a red hog herself.
She's the only grandparent I have still surviving, and if I may say so, age and senile dementia haven't improved her temperament any. To put it mildly.
I don't know if even in her prime Granny could've handled this hog.
But it sure would've been something to see her try.
You know that 'premiere' of F911 that Mikie Moore had set up in Crawford Texas tonight? The one what caused that good ol' Texas farmer to send him a big bag of manure?
Guess what? I just heard on Fox News that Mikie was a no-show.
What a big fat wuss.
We watched Tray-sa's speech last night. I suppose the kindest thing I can say was that it was non-traditional. It was....strange. I think one of the FoxNews pundits described it best when he said he kept expecting her to start singing "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina".
And what's with Ted Kennedy's remark that he knew just the place to throw Bush a little tea party? Pretty strange turn of phrase coming from him. Do you ever wonder if all those constant little Freudian tidbits like naming his dog Splash mean that whatever passes for his conscience haunts him about Mary Jo?
I'd like to think it does.
If anyone ever deserved a lifetime of sleepless nights, it's Teddy.
Kerry's campaign people are claiming Kerry's NASA photos were leaked. NASA says differently.
But the National Aeronautics and Space Administration told Fox News that the Kerry team saw the photos before publication and passed on their release.
I can understand their dismay. Kerry looks like a complete and total dork in that anti-contamination 'bunny' suit....and let's be fair. So would just about anyone.
But leaked? Puh-lease. What did Kerry's campaign think would happen after they (apparently) ok'd the photos to be posted on NASA's website? I'm not buying that this is some insidious 'dirty trick' by the VRWC.
They did this to themselves.
Dorks.
....and into the fire.
A prosecutor says he is preparing charges against a man who drove his pickup through the front doors of the child support office in McGehee....The truck traveled through the glass window of the reception area and through the wall behind it -- about 20 feet inside. The impact demolished a desk, computers and other equipment.
I'm sure that seemed like a good idea at the time, but it really wasn't.
Prosecutor Thomas Deen says he is planning charges of commercial burglary, first degree criminal mischief and impairing a vital public facility. The charges are Class C- felonies, each punishable by three to ten years in prison.
Been a whole lot easier to have just paid the child support.
Our Gov has been doing a little campaigning for the Prez lately....telling a state sportsmans group that Kerry didn't really hunt and fish like us good ol' boys do. I more or less blew that off as just politics, but it appears the Gov was right. (Thanks, Charles!)
[Kerry] was in Wisconsin the other day, pretending to be a regular guy, and was asked what kind of hunting he preferred. “I’d have to say deer,” said the senator. “I go out with my trusty 12-gauge double-barrel, crawl around on my stomach... That’s hunting.”
Well, now we know who his hunting role model is.
Kerry's sister assured everyone at yesterday's femi-nazi hen party that John Kerry supports their agenda.
Mr. Kerry will restore $34 billion to the United Nation's population fund for family planning, she pledged, and the Democrat will make sure that "CEDAW," an international treaty to eliminate discrimination against women, is ratified in the Senate.
"He will also appoint pro-choice judges to the Supreme Court," she said, as the crowd of more than 300 women cheered.
Yeah, that's just what we need. More liberal judges and more funding for the UN.
And what's a hen party without some petty bitchiness?
As the crowd waited, Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Molly Ivins, who also wrote "Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America," was invited to say a few words.
President Bush met with some Amish people recently and said that God speaks through him, she said.
That is odd, she said, because "I think God knows how to pronounce 'nuclear.' "
I'm guessing that He probably knows there's two 'correct' pronounciations of 'nuclear', just like there's multiple pronounciations of 'Teresa'....the commonly used 'Tuh-ree-sa', the nouveau riche affectation 'Tuh-ray-sa' and the economical hillbilly 'Tree-sa'.
And not that I'd presume to know the mind of God, but I'd bet he wouldn't wear one of these either. (Found via Rodger)
Good Idea: Giving a speech on civility in politics.
Bad Idea: Telling a reporter to "shove it" on camera afterwards.
(Via Michelle)
This caught my eye in this morning's paper:
Duct tape for repair of handles for freezer units is not an approved food service material.
Mike sez it's because duct tape grows bacteria like crazy.
Who knew?
Borrowed from Tony:
1. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR BEDROOM WALLS? White. Boring I know, but our house is a rental. I'd like to paint them a soft, relaxing blue.
2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The CISSP Prep Guide and I'm re-reading Asimov's Foundation series. How Geekette is that?
3. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? A galaxy/planets thing.
4. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Trivial Pursuit. And I play a lot of Hi-Ho Cherry-o these days.
5. FAVORITE MAGAZINE? Don't have one. The only time I read magazines is when I'm waiting for an appointment.
6. FAVORITE SMELL? Sweet William blossoms. And Cool Water for Men. Rrrroww!
7. FAVORITE COLOR? Blue.
8. LEAST FAVORITE COLOR? Pink, especially pale pink. Bleh! I hates pink.
9. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOUR ANSWERING MACHINE PICKS UP? 4.
10. MOST IMPORTANT MATERIAL THING IN MY LIFE? My car. Dependable and fun to drive. What more could you want?
11. FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM? Chocolate w/almonds. My mom's homemade ice cream. And the chocolate Italian gelati that I had in Florence.
12 DO YOU BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT DAILY? Let's see. I drive from Fayetteville to Bentonville on the I-540 "Dale Earnhardt Memorial Expressway" daily, and from Fayetteville to Van Buren on the I-540 Autobahn weekly. Of course I break the speed limit. I don't have a death wish.
13. DO YOU HAVE A STUFFED ANIMAL IN YOUR ROOM SOMEWHERE? I think so. Lemme check. Yep. A shelf full of stuffed animals my kids have bought me over the years. And there's one of Mike's kids' teddy bears in there too. We're packrats, what can I say?
14. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY? Storms are cool unless there's a tornado....even that's cool as long as it doesn't get too close.
15. FAVORITE DRINK? Tea...hot or iced.
16. WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY? I'm a Libra. That's all you need to know about my birthday.
17. FAVORITE VEGETABLES? Hmmm. That's a toughie because I like most vegetables except those in the cabbage family and beans. Cooked carrots with butter and baked sweet potatoes are two particular favorites.
18. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB, WHAT WOULD IT BE? *sings badly* "If I were King of the forest...." Sorry. Umm, either a child abuse prosecutor or a juvenile court judge. "Hanging Judge" Rita has a certain ring to it, doncha think?
19. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Just like it is now. Salt 'n pepper. I've never dyed my hair, except when I was a foolish teenager. Too much trouble. Besides, I like me just the way I am.
20. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE? Sure.
21. TOP THREE FAVORITE MOVIES (IN ORDER)? Casablanca, for the great dialogue not the sappy love story. Gone With the Wind. A Christmas Story.
22. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS? Yep. I had an excellent typing teacher, back in the day when typing was taught on manual typewriters. And we used onionskin for carbons. Remember what a pain in the ass it was to make a mistake when you were typing 5 or 6 carbon copies? I don't miss those days.
23. WHAT’S UNDER YOUR BED? Guns of course. Duh. And the cat hides out there sometimes too.
24. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? 6.
25. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH ON TV & IN PERSON? On TV, college basketball. In person, whatever my kids were playing.....baseball, softball, track, basketball, football. Last game I watched was my daughter playing with her company's softball team in a mixed league. It was a hoot. Though if Springdale gets their sports complex, I want to go watch minor league baseball.
26. WHAT IS YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST FEAR? That's a tie between something bad happening to my grandson and something bad happening to my kids....followed closely by something bad happening to Mike.
27. FAVORITE CD OF ALL TIME & RIGHT NOW? Right Now: The Ramones Greatest Hits I think it's called. All-Time: I don't have one.
28. FAVORITE TV SHOW OF ALL TIME & RIGHT NOW? Right now, the assorted Law & Orders and CSIs. All-Time: the original SNL.
29. HAMBURGERS OR HOT DOGS? Hamburger. Though Sabino's are pretty dang good too.
30. THE COOLEST PLACES YOU’VE EVER BEEN? The Grand Canyon.
31. WHAT WALLPAPER AND/OR SCREENSAVER IS ON YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW? Desktop: It changes with the season. Right now it's a desert scene at night and a flowing water & leaves screensaver. Laptop: Trogdor wallpaper and the zooming stars screensaver.
32. DOES MCDONALD’S SKIMP ON YOUR FRIES & DO YOU CARE? I don't care. I only eat at McDonald's when I have no other choice. The best fries around here are at Penguin Ed's BBQ anyway.
33. FAVORITE CHAIN RESTAURANT(s)? Coy's Steakhouse, a local chain. Mike & I always split a 2 1/2 lb. porterhouse.
34. IF YOU HAVE A BOY (OR HAVE ANOTHER BOY) WHAT WOULD YOU NAME HIM? A walking miracle, since neither Mike nor I can have any more kids. Thank God.
35. IF YOU COULD LEARN TO PLAY ONE INSTRUMENT OVERNIGHT, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Piano. Or maybe a violin. I used to have a piano when the kids were small, and was attempting to teach myself how to play. Until my husband-at-the-time, who is a musical idiot savant, sat down one night, plunked around on it for a few minutes and then starting playing stuff that I had been struggling for weeks to learn. Jerk. I advertised the piano for sale the next day. I want to get another one when we get our own house though.
A law school classmate of mine was assaulted in court the other day.
On Wednesday, seconds after Circuit Judge John Langston sentenced the 25-year-old Conway man to consecutive life terms in prison, Hall punched deputy prosecuting attorney Barbara Mariani in the face and broke three bones near her left eye.
As the 6-foot-1-inch, 200- pound Hall drew back his fist for a second punch, senior deputy prosecuting attorney John Johnson grabbed him in a bear hug and, assisted by four other men, wrestled the convicted double murderer to the floor in front of the jury box.
I don't doubt it broke three bones in her face. Hall sounds like a big ol' boy, and Ms. Mariani is rather petite....what my mother would call "not no bigger than a minute". She was one of the best and brightest in our class, and a really nice person too.
Those kinds of hazards go with the job, though. Pretty typical for those in trouble with the law to blame everyone else for their problems except the person who caused it...themselves.
Which is why I think prosecutors and cops aren't paid nearly enough.
It cracks me up that some people think that 'going postal' is a modern-day phenomenon. It ain't.
100 years ago July 23, 1904 JONESBORO — Wilson Day was shot and killed at Brookland by F. V. Harris. Day is said to have been intimidating the people at an ice cream social. Harris and others had arrested him once, but placed him in the hands of his friends. Day later returned with a Winchester and began shooting at random.
A'course, there weren't much hostage negotiations back in them days.
Guess who's back, back again
Rodger's back, my old friend.
But he ain't ta home....he's just vistin'.
Drop by and say hey.
Here's what happens to fools who steal our bandwidth. If you'd like to use any of our photos, don't be a jerk. Just email us.
(Thanks Keith, for reminding me to post this.)
After many long years, Mike & I have at last discovered what true happiness is.
Wanna see?
Click here.
The Annie Jacobson story has finally hit the national print media, along with several other instances of 'suspicious' behavior. Most of them could have perfectly rational explanations, except this:
A second pilot said that, on one of his recent flights, an air marshal forced his way into the lavatory at the front of his plane after a man of Middle Eastern descent locked himself in for a long period.
The marshal found the mirror had been removed and the man was attempting to break through the wall. The cockpit was on the other side.
Pretty scary. Even scarier is that officials for the most part seem to be practicing a 'catch & release' program for the ones involved in these incidents. This article doesn't say what happened to this guy, but I don't remember seeing any headlines saying "Man Shot While Attempting to Break into Cockpit", do you?
It also makes me wonder what else has been happening on flights that hasn't been released to the public.
Surveillence video from Dulles show that 4 of the 5 hijackers that hit the Pentagon were pulled aside for additional security checks, but were then allowed to board the plane.
True, at that time you could carry your pocketknife on the plane, but still.
I don't believe airport security is much better now. Do you?
Now I'll prolly get pulled out of line, stripped and body cavity searched when we go to Jamaica.
It must be great to be a cat. You come inside, eat, get a drink of water....barf up a big hairball then go right back outside without having to clean up after yourself.
Now that's the life, isn't it?
The judges for the America in Bloom contest are headed our way, so Mayor Dan wants us all to clean up.
“We're asking people to pick their places up,” Mayor Coody says. “[Dispose of] litter, mow and trim, and make Fayetteville look great."
'Mow and trim' like that city easement where our mailbox is that the city hasn't mowed but once since I moved here over 4 years ago? But I guess Mayor Dan has been too busy proposing illegal sweetheart leases to worry about that. Or maybe it's all that time Mayor Dan spends planning a TIF district to pay for renovation of the Mountain Inn....a building that should've been put out of its misery and demolished 5 years ago. Not to mention the big bucks he just gave to some tree-hugging gardening group to build a $750,000 potting shed out in a field....or the $46,000 he spent putting benches on Dickson Street. I expect those benches will brush off the seat of my pants when I get up as much as they cost. But hey, the city doesn't have the money to pay for their part of widening Crossover Road so people can actually drive across town in less than an hour....so Mayor Dan wants to raise our taxes to pay for it.
You know, if our mayor took half the time he spends on figuring out how to raise our taxes to pay for those high-rent apartments he wants to build downtown, he might actually have time to find the money necessary to improve the streets so we could all get around town.
So some high-flautin' out-of-towners are coming & Mayor Dan wants us all to clean up our yards, eh? I think it's time to get a new battery for the old Wagoneer so we can move it....around to the front down by the street and cover it with signs that say something like "Do Something Useful. Fix the Damn Streets".
I know, I know, that would be petty and childish.
But it sure would be fun.
It was bad enough that you 'screwed up' your MT Blacklist so that it permanently banned me from commenting.
Now look what you went and did.
I stopped on the way to class this morning to get my ritual every-four-weeks haircut....but it looks nothing like this. I was 30 mins. late for class, but as it turned out, it didn't matter. Today's class was cancelled because the instructor was sick.
'Tis an ill wind that blows no good.
The UPI is carrying a report that the story of the discovery of nuclear missiles in Iraq may not be so stupid after all.
"The three missiles were discovered by chance when the Iraqi security forces captured former Baath party official Khoder al-Douri who revealed during interrogation the location of the missiles saying they carried nuclear heads," the sources said.
They pointed out that the missiles were actually discovered in the trenches lying under six meters of concrete and designed in a way to unable sophisticated sensors from discovering nuclear radiation....The report could not be authenticated by the interior ministry or the national security department, but the paper noted Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zibari made a surprise request recently to Mohammed el-Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to resume inspections for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (Link via Drudge)
Now this may be like several other rumors from Iraq that turned out to be unfounded, so I'll wait and see how it all comes out. But hoo-boy, if this is true....Wow.
Kerry may as well pick up his toys and go home.
UPDATE: The UPI story now contains a quote from a US official denying that any nuclear weapons have been found.
"Nothing's been found. The report is not factual," said Master Sgt. Robert Cowens, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division, based in Tikrit.
So, a non-story, not true, a completely erroneous report.
I don't really care whether or not this report is 'stupid'.
Iraq's Interior Ministry dismissed as "stupid" a report in a local newspaper Wednesday that said three nuclear missiles had been found near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
A senior U.S. military official told reporters he had no information on the report in the Iraqi newspaper al-Sabah. He said officials were checking the report.
All I want to know right now is if it's incorrect.
The British anti-hunting crowd is upset by the inevitable consequences of their proposed hunting ban.
A hunting ban need not spell doom for thousands of hounds, the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (Apgaw) concluded on Tuesday.
Its report follows an investigation by dog welfare experts, who decided euthanasia should be a last resort.
They apparently think you can make a house dog out of a hound. That's a real knee-slapper, innit?
"An adult foxhound is a very large and boisterous breed, so re-homing will be harder," said Rachel Casey, of the Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, Bristol University.
Reckon? Know what hounds do for entertainment when they're not hunting? They bark. Since they're pack animals, when one of them barks, they all bark....and they won't stop until you throw something at them and yell "Shet up dawgs!"
The other problem is that when hounds are denied an appropriate outlet, they will find more destructive ways to express their overwhelming hunting instinct. Like destroying your furniture. Or by becoming a very efficient egg-sucking, chicken-killing machine.
Tonya Wood, joint Master of the Heythrop Hunt, laughed sadly at the thought of re-homing hounds. "It just doesn't work," she told BBC News Online. "I would challenge anyone to take a hound into their house and not want to get rid of it within a week.
Now there's a lady what knows hounds. They're not bad dogs, by any means. My favorite hound was this huge red 3-legged bloodhound that my grandpa had when I was just a tot. Like most hounds, ol' Sarge lived to hunt. Unlike most hounds, he was content to laze around in the shade & be fussed over by a very small girl....until he thought my grandpa was going hunting. Then he turned into a very large bundle of barely contained excitement and I learned pretty quickly to get out of his way. He wouldn't mean to hurt me, but nothing could come between him and what he loved more than anything else. Hunting.
As a general rule, hounds are working dogs, not pets. Keeping one cooped up in your home would be as ill-advised as keeping a large bull in a china shop. I'd hate to see 20,000 dogs put down, but denying them the one thing in life that they live for is equally cruel.
Perhaps the proponents of the ban might consider applying the ban in stages, progressively limiting the places in which hunting could take place and working with the breeders to spay and neuter most of the hounds they currently have. That would improve the breed and eliminate the need to euthanize most of the current hound population....not to mention the utterly ridiculous proposition that one can teach a hound to be a house dog.
Naw, that would make too much sense.
Al Franken beat Bill O'Reilly in the NYC radio ratings. Why am I not surprised? I'd rather listen to Al Franken than Bill O'Reilly....and I loathe Al Franken. Rush reportedly had more listeners than those two combined. Big deal. If I had to pick between the three, I'd pick Rush too.
But frankly my dear, I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for the lot of them at a Buy Two, Get One Free Sale.
There's just something about talk radio that brings out the ass in people. Look at Howard Stern. He used to be reasonably interesting. But I stopped listening to him when he started to self-destruct after his wife left him. Now he's about as interesting as any other pathetic old raincoated bum that hangs out in the red light district peep shows. Which is to say not interesting at all.
And Dr. Laura just scares me. She's as frightening as some of those 'kill yer neighbor' freaks that have local talk radio shows around here.
Maybe it's just where we live, but it's slim pickin's for all radio, not just talk radio. Clear Channel owns most of the stations except for a couple of independent Spanish ones. And Clear Channel stations seem to follow the same format: All crap. All the time.
Which is why on the rare occasions that I do listen to the radio, I usually end up on one of the Spanish stations.
"Musica de la musica! Musica de la Rrrrrolling Stones!"
And if you remember where that's from, you're as old as me.
Maybe even older.
Sandy Berger has announcing that he's stepping aside as Kerry's 'informal adviser' until "this matter" is resolved. You know, that little matter of stuffing classified papers down his drawers and in his freaking socks.
And why not leave?
His job there is finished anyway.
I see that the 6 Million Dollar man has been released today, and an Egyptian hostage was released yesterday.
Wonder how much that cost them?
I already know what it's going to cost us....and it ain't dollars.
At least directly.
Here's some good outsourcing news for eastern Arkansas.
Gov. Mike Huckabee and top executives for Japan's Hino Motors Ltd. will hold a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for a new manufacturing plant that will make rear axle parts for Toyota trucks.
The plant will be located in Marion, which is just across the river from Memphis, and will provide somewhere between 400 and 2,000 new jobs.
I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. There's a huge labor pool in the economically depressed Arkansas Delta, plenty of railroads and river access for shipping....and Arkansas is a right-to-work state, which means unions ain't real popular here.
To put it mildly.
If these allegations are true, I have to agree with PETA. And so should you.
An animal rights group involved in a long legal dispute with Kentucky Fried Chicken about the treatment of the 700 million chickens it buys each year is to release a videotape today showing slaughterhouse workers for one supplier jumping up and down on live chickens, drop-kicking them like footballs and slamming them into walls, apparently for fun.
There is no excuse for behavior like this. None.
The tape includes loud music the workers listen to, the screeching of the birds and the sound of each hitting the wall. When released, it will be on a Web site of the animal-rights group, which is known as PETA, at kentuckyfriedcruelty.com.
The undercover investigator, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation and still does undercover work for the group, said in a telephone interview that he saw "hundreds" of acts of cruelty, including workers tearing beaks off, ripping a bird's head off to write graffiti in blood, spitting tobacco juice into birds' mouths, plucking feathers to "make it snow," suffocating a chicken by tying a latex glove over its head, and squeezing birds like water balloons to spray feces over other birds.
Mistreating a dumb animal is a sin and this is absolutely inexcusable behavior. The perpetrators should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and then some.
Pilgrim's Pride should be ashamed.
As you've probably heard, Sandy Berger, former Clinton national security adviser, is being investigated for some missing documents.
"In the course of reviewing over several days thousands of pages of documents on behalf of the Clinton administration in connection with requests by the Sept. 11 commission, I inadvertently took a few documents from the Archives," Mr. Berger stated.
"When I was informed by the Archives that there were documents missing, I immediately returned everything I had except for a few documents that I apparently had accidentally discarded," he said.
I'd find that more believable if it wasn't for a) missing stuff seems to be a pattern with the Clintons and b) this statement:
[Berger's attorney] Mr. Breuer said the Archives staff first expressed concern to Mr. Berger during an Oct. 2 review of documents that at least one copy of the postmillennium report he had reviewed was missing.
Mr. Berger was given a second copy that day, Mr. Breuer said.
So Berger knows that one copy he looked at couldn't be found, yet he 'accidentally discarded' the second copy he was given? I find that hard to swallow.
And what moron at the National Archives said "Gee Mr. Berger, the copy of that report criticizing Clinton's handling of terror threats you were looking at the other day has disappeared, so here's another copy"?
BTW, speaking of the devil, Clinton will be signing copies of his book here at the Mall Avenue Wal-Mart on July 31st. Just in case you wanted to get yours signed, you know.
While sitting in the dentist's chair this afternoon, I overheard a man telling the hygienist about his upcoming trip to Jamaica. Interesting but not very....until I heard him tell her about his plan to take a little side trip to Cuba while he was there. A little later, he elaborated on his plan to my dentist, though he got sidetracked on a little rant about how the embargo was a Republican plot. (My dentist, who's a very nice guy, politely replied that that was an interesting point of view, but the embargo had been in place for years before Bush took office.)
Anyway, here's Einstein's plan. He's not taking his birth certificate to use for identification because they will stamp it when he goes into Cuba. But he's going to 'fool' them. He's using his passport instead.
Now up to that time, I'd been trying to figure out how to clearly yell "You're a stupid asshole" around the mouthful of dental implements and such they'd left in my mouth. But when I heard his 'master plan', I had to concentrate on not swallowing them while I laughed.
I hope immigration throws his moron ass in jail.
I spent most of the afternoon in the dentist's office.
My mouth is sore.
My cheek is swelling.
My head hurts.
We are definitely having soft food for dinner, then I'm going to bed and someone else will have to take the bloody dogs out.
1 dentist's visit down, 3 more to go.
WildChild was getting a little bored Saturday afternoon, and I'm a firm believer that a busy child is a less-likely-to-get-into-trouble child. So he & I hooked up the trailer to the lawn tractor and set about moving some pea gravel from the front drive around to the front porch landing. (That's one of his favorite places to play with his trucks, so the gravel cover was getting a little thin)
After enthusiastically shoveling gravel into the trailer for quite a while (and even getting a couple of handfuls in the trailer), he complained "Ma, dis make my back hurt." "Me too," I said. "Think we have enough gravel?" "Yeah!" he replied, and we hauled it around to the front.
With a little help from Pa with a stuck dump lever, we dumped the gravel out into two little piles and WildChild hopped off to survey our handiwork. After a little muttering and arranging, he stuck a stick in each gravel pile and proclaimed them castles. Then he set about destroying them both with his front-end loader and truck. (An equal opportunity Vishnu you might say)
He happily played hard for an hour or so destroying and rebuilding his 'castles', with an occasional timeout for equipment maintenance....and then he was more than ready for supper, a quick bath and bedtime.
And I got the gravel moved and spread with very little effort on my part....thanks to the Tom Sawyer method of lawn maintenance.
Work smarter, not harder I always say.
A common trait I've noticed in a lot of criminals is that they think they're smarter than everyone else....which is often so not true. Like this lady.
Black was arrested Friday in downtown Little Rock on a 2003 warrant charging her with failing to register as a sex offender, Lt. Scott Timmons said.
As she was waiting to be booked, she asked an officer standing nearby if she was being charged with killing her husband, Timmons said.
The problem? No one knew her husband was dead.
"At that point, she was interviewed here and we made contact with the Van Buren County Sheriff's Department," Timmons said.
"We gave them some information, they acted on that and located a homicide in a Dennard home."
She's now in the Van Buren County jail, pending further charges.
D'oh.
Not quite. But it's as close as you're going to get from the NYTimes.
Since everyone seemed to like them, I've posted new photos, taken during our recent trip to Marshall. Or the "Big City" as my dad sarcastically calls it.
Of course, when you live in a remote area where your nearest neighbor is a quarter of a mile away, I suppose even a little town with a population of about 1,300 would look like a big city.
Heck, it even has a traffic light now.
Michelle Malkin has spoken to someone who confirmed much of the Annie Jacobson story.
Now there may be a perfectly innocent explanation for the events that happened on that flight as she described, but still.
Pretty freaking scary.
This is not good news. At all.
The Senate overwhelmingly approved a landmark tobacco deal on Thursday to give the Food and Drug Administration long-sought power to regulate cigarettes and give $12 billion in aid to tobacco farmers.
Like my mother always says, if other people would pay half as much attention to their own business as they paid to mine, the world would be a much better place. You know what the FDA has planned, don't you?
The proposal would give the FDA expanded powers to require more forceful health warnings on cigarette packs, regulate advertising, more aggressively combat underage sales and regulate ingredients to make cigarettes less harmful. It could not ban cigarettes or completely eliminate nicotine.
Riiiight. They can't ban them outright, so they want to modify them so as to make them unsmokeable.
They can kiss my lily-white hillbilly ass.
My grandpa grew his own chaw and my daddy made his own corn liquor. I reckon I can learn how to grow and roll my own. Tax free. And I've got just the place to do it too.
Snoopy liberals don't last too long in them thar hills.
Me of course. What? Didn't notice I wasn't around this afternoon? For shame.
Anyhow and anyway, someone was having issues this afternoon. No, not me. SBC/Yahoo. So I whipped out a little post over at the backup site, which strangely enough I could get to. Yeah, I could get to Blogger, but not much of anywhere else. That's gotta be a first.
But now everything's working. Not that I have anything to write about. I do have a pug dog who's chewing on his food dish. Which he does when he wants to be fed RIGHT NOW and I'm ignoring him.
It's really annoying.
Now our state's Homeland Security department wants to know how the Highway Department's FTP server got compromised and if there's any more like it on the system.
Gary Underwood, chief security officer for the state computer network, said Wednesday that he has been asked to find out whether any of the state's computer system's servers have been infiltrated.
"We have sent out an e-mail asking all the state agencies to tell us if they've experienced problems along the same lines," Underwood said Wednesday. "They have also been asked to report back to us how many FTPs (file transfer protocols) they have and how many are secure and not secure."
The e-mail was necessary because you see, he didn't know. That's right, our state chief IT security officer doesn't know how many unsecured FTP servers the state system has.
The correct answer should've been zero....as in none. As in it is against our state IT security policy to have unsecured FTP servers on the state system.
What exactly does this person get paid by our tax dollars to do?
There will be no more skinnydipping allowed in McDonald County, Missouri. (McDonald County is immediately north of Bentonville, AR, in case you were wondering.)
Nudity is now officially barred on Mc-Donald County waterways after the county commission approved an ordinance Wednesday banning public nudity at rivers and creeks....The ban on public nudity at streams and rivers went into effect Wednesday. Violation is punishable by a fine up to $1,000, or by a fine to be determined by a court.
Officers assigned to waterways patrol will begin enforcing the nudity ban immediately, according to [county sheriff] Evenson’s press release. "No grace period or learning curve will be allowed. We have no plans to write warnings, citations will be issued from this day forward," Evenson said in the press release.
Allegedly, the previous law was gender-neutral, so both men & women were allowed to go topless.....something its author(s) obviously didn't think through. Which had apparently been somewhat of a headache for local law enforcement trying to calm down the increasingly wild crowds on the Elk River.
Sounds like McDonald County, which has a reputation among us locals as being the asshole of Missouri, may be trying to clean up its act.
Civilization. It's a good thing.
The 2004 Digital States Survey ranks Arkansas as one of the "top-10 most digitally advanced state governments in the nation".
Now that's a real drink-spewer, if I may be so cliched.
Trust me, the Highway Dept.'s 'unprotected server' debacle is just the tip of the iceberg.
There's the child support agency's new & improved software that would not release most child support payments a couple of years ago right before Christmas....that still isn't working properly. There's the AASIS program that must be used by all state offices that, after about 3 yrs., still doesn't work. Then there's the exclusive-to-attorneys caselaw research site that is a duplicate of the one formerly maintained by the Arkansas Supreme Court, of which both sites' search engine suckiness is surpassed only by the overall suckage of the state legislature maintained statute research site.
A recent new addition to local county sites allows you to look up and pay your property taxes online. A little poking around and I discovered that you can also look up your neighbor's....and anyone else's you've a mind to. Just enter a name and within seconds you have a handy little list of all the property owned by that person, where it's located and any taxes due. A fun way to spend an afternoon, yes?
Sure many of the state's forms are online, but you have to download and print. Most cannot be filed online. Yes, the state's going digital, but it's still in its start-stagger-stumble 'n fall babysteps stage. So I fail to see how it could be in the top ten, and Oklahoma, whose state government systems are much broader and actually, I don't know, work, isn't.
I don't get it.
This guy was one seriously sick freak.
A man doused his on-and-off girlfriend and three small children with gasoline while holding them at gunpoint in a car, set them on fire and crashed, killing the youngsters and dying soon afterward.
The kids were ages 6 months, 1 year and 2 years.
Makes you want to dig him up and kill him all over again, don't it?
I was talking to WildChild's mom on the phone yesterday when I started hearing this little voice insisting in the background...
"No, no Mommy! Type WildChild's name!"
"No, no Mommy! Type WildChild's name!"
over and over and over. Louder and louder. He even spelled his name for her.
She finally had to pause in our conversation to tell him "Honey, I can't type your name right now. Your name is not Mommy's log-in on the computer."
I stifled a giggle and told her, "Um....he, uh, has his own log-in on my laptop. That's why he wants you to type his name....because I, uh, sorta showed him how to log-in on it."
There's a perfectly logical reason. In admin terms, I am God on my machine. A 3 yr. old does not need those powers. Trust me. He really doesn't. So we created a separate i.d. for him, and I've been teaching him that he has to log me off and log-in under his own i.d. before he starts playing one of his games. That way, I don't have to worry so much about him clicking around in say, Add/Remove Programs before I notice exactly what he's doing. And I don't have the hassle of password-locking my screen saver.
I think he's catching on pretty quickly.
*snicker*
I realized yesterday that the Republican Convention is happening on the same weekend of our wedding anniversary.....which we usually celebrate in NYC.
I think we'll take a pass this year.
It seems our state Highway Department had an unprotected FTP server....not such a good idea.
Video and audio files from an al-Qaida-linked Web site were discovered on an Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department computer server, according to a private company that monitors such activity.
Morons. The material was turned over to the proper authorities, who are investigating how it got there.
The agency also is reviewing whether it should use non-secure servers, [department spokesman] Ort said.
I should think that would be a short review, unless of course you were a complete and total incompetent idiot.
Sheesh.
A U of A professor has won a "prestigious award" for his research in hog nutrition.
Reckon what it looks like, a stocking-covered hog leg lamp?
heh
New meme:
Heh.
1. UPN or Fox? UPN is just boring.
2. roller derby or WWE? I used to watch all the time when I was single....you guys think you're the only ones who like to watch toned & oiled bodies in skimpy get-ups? Puh-lease.
3. Loretta Lynn or Tammy Wynette? Tammy's just too whiny.
4. Tony Lama or Durango? Easy choice. Durango's are too clunky.
5. fried Spam or fried boloney? Actually not bad. Fried boloney is too slimy.
6. Buck Owens or Porter Wagoner? I can't watch Porter Wagoner without remembering what my grandpa said once. We were all watching a Porter & Dolly duet, and Grandpa said "Just look at him. He just cain't keep his hands off'n them big tits." Cracked us all up except Grandma, who gave him the devil for talking like that in front of us kids.
7. fiddle or banjo? Is there anything that can sound more lonesome? I don't think so.
8. Texas or Tennessee? I like them both.
9. Ford or Chevy? (pickup of course) We almost always had Fords....which is where I learned how to fix autos.
10. extended cab or long bed? I've never understood why you need an extended cab. If there's no room in the cab, just hop in the back.
11. Tabasco or Texas Pete's? Neither. I don't like hot sauce.
12. Saints or Cowboys? Neither. They both suck.
13. baseball cap or cowboy hat? Cowboy hats are for riding only.
14. double wide or single wide? Yes, I've lived in both....but not by preference. Even when the choice was a trailer or nowhere at all, it was still a difficult decision.
15. Wal-mart or K-mart? Duh.
16. "Your Cheatin' Heart" or "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"? I've heard many a whippoorwill, and they do sound lonesome & blue.
17. Gunsmoke or Bonanza? I had the biggest crush on Hoss.
18. Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard? Both are good, but I like Merle better.
19. catfish or buffalo wings? Catfish, yuck. I'd just as soon eat a buzzard.
20. Charlie Daniels Band or ZZ Top? Tough one, but I sincerely believe "Legs" was written about me.
21. Velvet painting: Elvis or bullfighter? But "Dogs Playing Poker" would beat them both.
22. Plastic sunflowers or plastic flamingos? I've been dying to cover our lawn with plastic flamingos at Christmas to bug our neighbors, but Mike won't let me.
23. Lawn chairs: molded plastic or aluminum frame? Hands down winner. More comfortable and you can replace the webbing.
24. John Wayne or Clint Eastwood? Impossible to choose, though I think John Wayne would win in a fistfight.
You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl....well except for that time all of my family except me was complaining about the store's failure to include any 'light bread' with the deli tray someone had bought for our Christmas get-together. But that's another story.
When I first heard the news about exploring postponing the presidential election in the event of a terrorist attack, I said that'll start the moonbats to barking. And so it did.
"I don't think there's an argument that can be made, for the first time in our history, to delay an election," said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the Intelligence Committee.
"We hold elections in the middle of war, in the middle of earthquakes, in the middle of whatever it takes. The election is a statutory election. It should go ahead, on schedule, and we should not change it."
One suspects Sen. Feinstein might sing a different tune if, God forbid, Kerry/Edwards were killed two days before the general election by a terrorist attack.
It's a different world that we live in today, and it's sometimes scary to see how many elected representatives on both sides just don't get that. You can bet your bottom dollar that there are terrorists who will do their utmost to repeat what happened in Spain. And it's foolish to think that Bush is their primary target.
Strategically, it would be much better to hit the Democrat Convention, for which Bush, et al, would be pilloried for their failure to provide adequate security. Or for 'deliberately' allowing it to happen. You can see the headlines now, can't you?
But hit the Republican Convention and you run the risk of increasing support for tighter security and pro-active attacks against the terrorists. Not just among conservatives, but also among other people to whom the office of the president still means something, regardless of who holds the office. Massive bi-partisan support for retaliation is not what the terrorists are aiming for.
Maybe they're not that smart, but it wouldn't be prudent to assume otherwise. So investigating postponing the election is a smart move, no matter what those protesting it say.
If they had half a brain, they'd realize that.
Let's all cry for Hillary. Even the NYTimes is saying Edwards may seriously damage her chances for the White House in '08.
I think they're right.
Win or lose, if Edwards campaigns well, I think he will have a lock on the Democratic nomination in '08. A smooth-talking handsome young Southern gentleman vs. a socialist shrew? Puh-lease.
And what a fun race to watch that primary would be. Think about it. Lawyer vs. lawyer.
It'd be a wild one.
Don't ever direct-link one of our photos as the background for your blog. We do check our logs periodically, and violators will be sorry.
I'm applying for a position via email (that's right, like I don't have enough rejection letters) and can't think of the proper way to say this:
Dear Sir or Madam:
You should hire me immediately, sight unseen.
I'm that good.
Sincerely,
Rita
Mike said I should work in that I'm a Cherokee squaw hillbilly attorney and that I speak Geek fluently.
Ha ha. So funny. But not very helpful.
Excuse my ignorance, but exactly how drunk do you have to be to 'excuse' being found on top of a nekkid 2 yr. old with your hands over its mouth?
Because I don't think anyone has ever been that drunk.
Do you?
Discovered at Lawren's:
100 Questions
1. Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly?
Astaire, hands down.
2. The Great Gatsby or The Sun Also Rises?
Gatsby, but I don't really care for either.
3. Count Basie or Duke Ellington?
I refuse to choose, which is a choice.
4. Cats or dogs?
Dogs. Cats are a necessary evil.
5. Matisse or Picasso?
Matisse. Picasso was a second-rate hack who invented Cubism because he lacked the ability to draw.
6. Yeats or Eliot?
Eliot. But I like Yeats too.
7. Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin?
Keaton.
8. Flannery O'Connor or John Updike?
Haven't read O'Connor & I don't like Updike, so neither.
9. To Have and Have Not or Casablanca?
Oooo. Tough one. I have to go with Casablanca because of its many great one-liners.
10. Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning?
Another tough one. Both are mildly interesting from a strictly artistic standpoint, but then so is cat barf. I'll pick the cat barf.
11. The Who or the Stones?
Stones.
12. Philip Larkin or Sylvia Plath?
Who cares?
13. Trollope or Dickens?
Dickens, though both use too many words.
14. Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald?
Easy one. Lady Day.
15. Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy?
I'd rather pluck out my eyes with cocktail forks.
16. The Moviegoer or The End of the Affair?
Uh. I dunno.
17. George Balanchine or Martha Graham?
Another who cares?
18. Hot dogs or hamburgers?
Burger unless I'm in NYC.
19. Letterman or Leno?
Leno.
20. Wilco or Cat Power?
Whodat?
21. Verdi or Wagner?
Verdi I suppose, though I love the Kill the Wabbit Song Ride of the Valkryries.
22. Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe?
Grace Kelly. The epitome of cool elegance.
23. Bill Monroe or Johnny Cash?
Bill Monroe. Cash was great but Monroe was greater.
24. Kingsley or Martin Amis?
Another I dunno.
25. Robert Mitchum or Marlon Brando?
Mitchum. I like men who are men.
26. Mark Morris or Twyla Tharp?
I don't know Morris' work, but Tharp is weird.
27. Vermeer or Rembrandt?
Rembrandt. But I'm not a big fan of either.
28. Tchaikovsky or Chopin?
Chopin.
29. Red wine or white?
Red, preferably a merlot or a cabernet. Or chianti.
30. Noël Coward or Oscar Wilde?
Wilde.
31. Grosse Pointe Blank or High Fidelity?
Grosse Pointe Blank.
32. Shostakovich or Prokofiev?
Whodat?
33. Mikhail Baryshnikov or Rudolf Nureyev?
Nureyev.
34. Constable or Turner?
Gak! Neither.
35. The Searchers or Rio Bravo?
Another tough one, but if I had to choose, The Searchers.
36. Comedy or tragedy?
Both please.
37. Fall or spring?
Spring.
38. Manet or Monet?
Since I can't choose Renoir, I'll go with Monet. Manet was a hack.
39. The Sopranos or The Simpsons?
The Simpsons.
40. Rodgers and Hart or Gershwin and Gershwin?
Another one in which I'd have to choose the cat barf.
41. Joseph Conrad or Henry James?
James I suppose.
42. Sunset or sunrise?
Sunset.
43. Johnny Mercer or Cole Porter?
Cole Porter. No contest.
44. Mac or PC?
Since I like to use a real computer, not a toy one, PC.
45. New York or Los Angeles?
Start spreadin' the news. New York. New York.
46. Partisan Review or Horizon?
Haven't a clue.
47. Stax or Motown?
Both, please.
48. Van Gogh or Gauguin?
Van Gogh.
49. Steely Dan or Elvis Costello?
Costello.
50. Reading a blog or reading a magazine?
Blogs.
51. John Gielgud or Laurence Olivier?
Olivier.
52. Only the Lonely or Songs for Swingin' Lovers?
Only the Lonely.
53. Chinatown or Bonnie and Clyde?
Neither.
54. Ghost World or Election?
Haven't a clue.
55. Minimalism or conceptual art?
Again, cat barf.
56. Daffy Duck or Bugs Bunny?
Bugs.
57. Modernism or postmodernism?
Pragmatism.
58. Batman or Spider-Man?
To the Batcave!
59. Emmylou Harris or Lucinda Williams?
Emmylou. From what I've seen of Lucinda, she can't carry a tune in a bushel basket.
60. Johnson or Boswell?
Johnson.
61. Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf?
Austen. Hysterically funny, not always intentionally.
62. The Honeymooners or The Dick Van Dyke Show?
Honeymooners.
63. An Eames chair or a Noguchi table?
Ugh. Mike loves that stuff. I do not. Neither.
64. Out of the Past or Double Indemnity?
Double Indemnity. Killer movie.
65. The Marriage of Figaro or Don Giovanni?
Marriage of Figaro. As Mike can attest, Don Giovanni is one act too long. We both went to sleep.
66. Blue or green?
Blue.
67. A Midsummer Night's Dream or As You Like It?
Midsummer Night's Dream.
68. Ballet or opera?
Opera, as long as it's subtitled so I can follow the plot.
69. Film or live theater?
Film.
70. Acoustic or electric?
Acoustic.
71. North by Northwest or Vertigo?
North by Northwest.
72. Sargent or Whistler?
Sargent.
73. V.S. Naipaul or Milan Kundera?
Nope.
74. The Music Man or Oklahoma?
Music Man. But I often sang the opening song from Oklahoma while driving to Jay.
75. Sushi, yes or no?
Hell yeah. With wasabi and pickled ginger.
76. The New Yorker under Ross or Shawn?
Neither. Does anyone really read that crap?
77. Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee?
Williams I suppose.
78. The Portrait of a Lady or The Wings of the Dove?
Portrait of a Lady.
79. Paul Taylor or Merce Cunningham?
No clue.
80. Frank Lloyd Wright or Mies van der Rohe?
Wright's designs are mildly interesting. I have no idea about Rohe.
81. Diana Krall or Norah Jones?
Not a clue.
82. Watercolor or pastel?
Watercolor.
83. Bus or subway?
Subways.
84. Stravinsky or Schoenberg?
Stravinsky. Schoenberg hurts my teeth.
85. Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?
Smooth.
86. Willa Cather or Theodore Dreiser?
Uh, no clue.
87. Schubert or Mozart?
Mozart.
88. The Fifties or the Twenties?
The twenties. I would've been a great flapper.
89. Huckleberry Finn or Moby-Dick?
Huckleberry Finn. I'd explain why I think Bartleby the Scrivener is Melville's greatest work, but I prefer not to.
90. Thomas Mann or James Joyce?
Joyce bores me.
91. Lester Young or Coleman Hawkins?
Not a clue.
92. Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman?
Dickenson. No contest.
93. Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill?
Churchill. I want a bulldog just so I can name it Church.
94. Liz Phair or Aimee Mann?
Liz Phair.
95. Italian or French cooking?
Italian, but Mike's slowly converting me to country French cooking.
96. Bach on piano or harpsichord?
Bach gives me a headache.
97. Anchovies, yes or no?
Yes.
98. Short novels or long ones?
Like many things in life, the longer the better.
99. Swing or bebop?
Swing, the dance or the music. In fact, the station I most usually listen to online is entirely 40's big band.
100. "The Last Judgment" or "The Last Supper"?
"The Last Supper" I guess....though I generally say of that art period if you've seen one Madonna & child you've seen them all.
All done!
The murder conviction of Danny Lee has been upheld by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. He and Chevie Kehoe were convicted of murdering a family from Tilly, Arkansas, which is close to my hometown. Lee got the death penalty; Kehoe got life in prison without parole.
They were a couple of those 'kill yer neighbor' folks I'm always going on about. Here's what these two did.
Lee and Kehoe stole $50,000 in cash, as well as guns and ammunition, from the family before taping plastic bags over their heads, weighting their bodies with rocks and throwing them into the Illinois Bayou, according to testimony at the trial. The bodies were found in Lake Dardanelle near Russellville in 1996.
Prosecutors said the killings were part of a plot to establish a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest.
If I remember correctly, there was also some testimony that Lee & Kehoe suspected Mr. Mueller of being an informant to the Feds. And that the family was still alive when they were pitched into the river, bound and weighted down with concrete blocks. Doing that to an adult is sociopathic. Doing that to an 8 yr. old child is evil.
They can't burn that sumbitch fast enough to suit me.
There's a thin line between zealous representation of a client and outright stupidity, and this attorney just crossed it.
The lone American on Saddam Hussein's legal team said yesterday that he has asked the Supreme Court to declare the detention of the ousted Iraqi president unconstitutional.
Pardon me while I laugh.
The lawyer contended that Saddam's detention violates multiple international laws and his constitutional Fifth Amendment right not to be deprived of "life, liberty or property without due process." Mr. Doebbler also said the war-crimes tribunal planned in Iraq will be neither independent nor impartial.
Setting aside the fact that the petition was not signed by Saddam (a legal no-no), how the hell does the former leader of another country, who is in the legal custody of that foreign country, have a "constitutional Fifth Amendment" right?
It is to laugh.
Or to say 'Dude, whatever you're smoking, you need to stop."
The NYPost has an article about Bush's new campaign spot that blasts Kerry (and Edwards) for his opposition to 'Laci's law', "which recognizes a fetus as a separate victim when a pregnant woman is violently attacked." Interesting, but not very...except for this:
The law explicitly excludes abortion procedures and applies only to violent crimes against pregnant women, but abortion rights groups opposed it, claiming it lays the groundwork for restricting a woman's right to choose.
It took some figuring, but I think I finally understand why some oppose this law. They fear it will more firmly establish an unborn baby as a separate person in a legal sense....with the legal rights of a person. You know, like the right not to have one's limbs chopped off & one's brains sucked out. Rights like 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness', with all the accompanying penumbra of rights that follow.
But if attacking a pregnant woman and causing the death of her unborn baby against her will isn't the ultimate repudiation of her right to choose, I don't know what is.
So basically they think they must oppose this right to choose in order to protect the other 'right' to choose.
Highly illogical.
Former University of Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson's discrimination lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice today.
Wilson ruled that there was no evidence of discrimination. The judge said the case appeared to be based on Richardson's "wounded pride."
Like I've said all along, his race had nothing to do with his termination as head basketball coach. He was fired because he went from winning the NCAA Championship to consistently having a team that couldn't beat a high school second squad....and then he same as dared them to fire him at that infamous nationwide press conference.
They obliged him.
End of story.
I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who noticed this.
Kinda makes you want to yell "Get a room!" doesn't it?
Reuters is reporting that the missing Marine, Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, is now at the US Embassy in Beirut.
I'll be really interested to hear the rest of this story....cuz so far it smells fairly suspicious to me.
--The prosecutor in this case (alleged murder of a 3 yr. old) is a good friend of mine....and I believe this is her first murder trial. Give 'em hell, girlfriend.
--Couple of local DJ's are feeling the Howard Stern effect. I've listened to them a few times and found them to be much like Howard Stern. Vulgar, crude and not particularly funny. From what I heard then, I'd hate to imagine what they said this time that was 'over the top'.
--Finally, this story isn't exactly local, but it does illustrate what Arkansas women are like when you piss us off. Since that website's stories are subject to rapid link-rot, I've excerpted the article in the extended entry.
Enjoy.
The two would-be robbers knocked on the door of Hedge’s home on Oakhurst Street west of downtown Jonesboro about noon Tuesday and asked to use the telephone. Hedge’s daughter, Crystal Deominguez, 23, opened the door, and the two pushed their way in.
One brandished a. 25-caliber revolver. The other held a long-barreled rifle. "They said this was an initiation into a gang, and they were going to clean us out," Hedge said. "Me and my daughter lost it."
Deominguez stepped in front of the one holding the rifle and told him he would have to shoot her first. "I then stepped in front of the other one," Hedge said. "I told him, ‘Don’t shoot my daughter. Shoot me. I know it will sting, but I will hurt you.’
" I didn’t have time to be scared, I reckon, "Hedge said.
The man with the pistol, who Hedge said was about 5 foot 10 and weighed about 150 pounds, took one look at her and ran out the door. Hedge is about 5 foot 2 and weighs 117 pounds.
Hedge then grabbed the other man in a headlock and began punching him. Deominguez, who is 5 foot 3 and weighs about 140 pounds, joined in. The man dropped his rifle, and Hedge stepped on the barrel.
" He thought we would get his gun and shoot his friend, "Hedge said." He kept saying, ‘Don’t shoot my dawg, don’t shoot my dawg.’ "
Deominguez punched him and said," Your dawg has gone, and he left you to die. "
The two women took turns pummeling the man before he broke lose, grabbed his rifle and ran.
" They took to whaling on him, "Martin said." A neighbor saw the one run out and said he was covered in blood. "
Both men fired shots at Hedge’s house as they drove away in a small white car, but no one was injured. Police have some suspects, Martin said.
Martin said one of the men was about 5 foot 5. Both weighed between 140 and 150 pounds.
" We just whipped their butts, "said Hedge, who can’t work because of two damaged vertebrae." I don’t think they’ll make that gang. Who would take a couple of boys whipped up by women?"
Hedge doesn’t advise others to do what she and her daughter did if faced with similar circumstances. This was simple instinct taking over, she said. "I was raised with 10 brothers and sisters," Hedge said. "I’ve gotten in plenty of fights.
" They need to think twice before picking somebody to rob. "
Heh.
I've posted some photos of a freaky vine that's growing in my flowerbed. I have no idea what it is, except a freaky stinky vine that gives me the creeps to look at it.
So since I have to go to class today and then meet my daughter for a no doubt lengthy shopping excursion to find me something to wear to her wedding [gak! I hate shopping for fancy dresses], y'all can play Name That Vine while I'm gone.
Good luck!
So we went to watch the Future Son-in-Law's band last night. They're not bad....kinduva mix of Stone Temple Pilots/Greenday/the Ramones. Once they got over a bad case of the jitters from their first public performance, they rocked the house. Drew such a larger-than-expected crowd that the bar's management had to bring out an extra bartender & waitress....and at the end of the band's appointed playing time, asked them to finish playing an entire set.
So not bad for a first night.
The only sour note was, as Mike so helpfully pointed out, the bass player was a fraction of a second off-beat on most of the songs. That's one of those things that just bugs the hell out of me, so once Mike mentioned it, that's all I could hear for the rest of the night.
Thanks, honey. [/sarcasm]
The acoustics weren't the greatest (brick walls & a high, open-beamed ceiling), so by the end I was reduced to communicating by ASL because my hearing had shut down in self-defense. It was a little LOUD. Yeah, yeah, I know. If the music's too loud, then you're too old.
If I could remember where I left my walker, I'd smack you over the head with it, you impertinent young whippersnapper.
They's leftovers and then there's....LeftOvers. We had the latter for dinner....leftover smoked brisket & chicken, with some sliced vine-ripe tomatoes drizzled with olive oil & baslamic vinegar and chopped garlic & fresh basil leaves thrown on top. Then for dessert we had leftover strawberry shortcake with a coupla scoops of ice cream. I'm as full as a tick.
I just hope we can stay awake long enough to go see the Future Son-in-Law's band play later tonight. George's at 9:30. If you're in town, stop by.
We'll be the old couple nodding off in the corner.
Wassef Ali Hassoun has reportedly been freed by his Iraqi captors.
A Lebanese-born U.S. marine is alive and free after having been thought to have been decapitated by his captors in Iraq, the hostage's brother said on Tuesday....."We got solid assurances that my brother is alive and was released today," he told reporters.
No official confirmation of these reports yet.
The NYPost is claiming that Kerry will name Gephardt as his VP choice today.
That'd be a helluva combination, wouldn't it?
Lurch and the Sleestack.
UPDATE: Reuters is reporting that Edwards is Kerry's choice as VP. I think they're correct.
So does Mike, who just said that Kerry needs someone pretty on the ticket, cuz he sure as hell ain't.
Fun family & friends get-together at my seester's....WildChild was wound up tighter than a cheap watch. Not too surprising, since my seester let him eat freakin' cake icing for breakfast. Sheesh. He finally starting winding down after a couple of hours, so he & I sat in the big swing to rest for a bit. I requested a song, so he started softly singing
"Rockabye my baby Ma
In da tweetop"
Cracked me up.
Later he insisted on taking a turn cranking the ice cream freezer, but threw a fit when I made him let someone else take over when it became too difficult for him to turn the handle. He ran around complaining to everyone, but kept getting told that he had to take turns. He came back to me with his face all puckered up, held up his arms for me to pick him up and cried "Ma, WildChild sad! I sad!" Then the boo-hooing started. I finally got him to sit down & eat something (cake icing, jeez what was she thinking?) and pretty soon he was back to playing and being Mr. Silly Pants. He was one tired little boy when it was all over.
Before we left there, our future son-in-law kindly invited us to go to his parents' house in the country and shoot fireworks. So after a quick stop at a fireworks stand, the long drive home and a quick stop at our house to take the dogs out, we headed over there. Mike got a blister on his thumb from striking the lighter so many times to light fuses, so our future son-in-law's father produced a portable propane torch.
That's right. They were lighting fireworks with a propane torch.
Fireworks with Tim and Al. A great end to a great day.
Everyone have a safe & happy 4th of July! We're heading out to my seester's for a cookout in about an hour. But right now Mother Nature is fixin' to hit us with another 'fireworks' display of her own, like she did night before last, so we're gonna duck & cover for the next 30 minutes or so.
Just as soon as I stir up some coleslaw.
I've posted some photos of our place down in Searcy County....since I had a very nice request for more photos of them thar hills.
Enjoy.
Summer school started back today, so I've been absent most of the morning. Completely missed Saddam shaking his finger & yelling "Dude, where's my country?" But then, you know that's just so sad at his age so I didn't miss much.
Sure I could've blogged this afternoon, but instead I spent a pleasant time chatting with Andy about ships and kings and sealing wax. Well, ok, about Tony Blair and jolly old England and kids and jobs and why there's so few smart people with common sense anyway. He's a right nice feller, you know.
So anyhow and anyway, I got nothing right now except chicken a'fryin', so go answer Craig's questions of burning importance. The correct answers are two, and solid stick.
IMHO, for what that's worth.
The government of King Co., Washington is considering a new land-use law.
Known as the 65-10 Rule, it calls for landowners to set aside 65 percent of their property and keep it in its natural, vegetative state. According to the rule, nothing can be built on this land, and if a tree is cut down, for example, it must be replanted. Building anything is out of the question.
May I suggest before they do so, they might want to consult an attorney who's not certifiably insane? There's this little thing called property rights they might want to investigate.
But supporters and environmentalists say personal property rights do not trump the rights of a larger community to save the eco-system.
Wanna bet the bank on that one, bunkie?
"We're trying to keep the rural area a place that isn't just McMansions and ball courts, but instead has those natural processes," said Tim Trohimovich of the group 1000 Friends of Washington, which aims to promote healthy communities and cities while protecting farmland and forests.
How special. I regret to inform you that you aren't allowed to take people's property by fiat. You have to pay for it. It's a natural process of a capitalist democratic society.
Morons.