Who And Where

Who will you be kissing at midnight?
Or, who would you like to be kissing at midnight?
And where?

Most Ironic Event of 2005

There has been a lot of irony this year. My nomination for the most ironic event would be when Brownie told us he was going into the consultant business advising companies how to handle disasters. Heck of a job of displaying irony, Brownie.

I’m sure there were so many more. Would you like to make a nomination?

The White House Website is Spying on You

Me too. I visit there frequently to get the news from the horses mouth, as it were.

We found out earlier this week that the NSA was keeping tabs on web site visitors, but stopped the practice after it was pointed out that the practice is illegal. Not the White House. They say it's not illegal because they use Web Bugs, not Cookies. Of course. Silly me.

A bug Bush won't exterminate (AP)
December 31, 2005

The White House said Friday its Web site will keep using Internet tracking technologies, deciding that they aren't prohibited after all under 2003 federal privacy guidelines.

The War On Immigrants

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
-Words on the Statue of Liberty

Nevermind.

It's post 9/11 and we have got to be careful of who we let in this country because they are a threat to our security and they are taking away our jobs. I was just dying to start up a lawn cutting business and I can't because El Salvadorians are cutting grass these days on Long Island. They have even gotten into the masonry field. What's an Italian-American to do?

You know, some of the nicest, brightest, most hardworking people I've ever met were immigrants. I don't know if they were legal or not but I do know that they really want to achieve the elusive "American Dream" that most of us who were born here know is really a scam to turn us into slaves... but nevertheless this country was built on immigrants and I wouldn't be here if not for my grandparents who toiled and were discriminated against just to give their children a better life. Maybe I'd be working in the coal mines of the Carpathian Mountains.

Alas, Americans, who are nothing but afraid, built the strawmen of the new century... the same old strawmen of last century... immigrants. What's more, Catholic and Christian outreach workers here feel threatened by a new bill in congress, co-sponsored by one of Long Island's own reviled congressman, Peter King (we have 8 in congress from L.I. and King is the only Republican). The bill proposes erecting a 698-mile wall across one-third of the U.S.-Mexico border, turning illegal immigrants into felons and making it a felony to shield or offer support to undocumented immigrants.

This is what's freaking out the Long Island charitable workers. (Immigration Bill Outrages Activists) Many are Christian/Catholic and it's against the religion to ignore a stranger. Yet there are many people who believe that immigrants bring problems to our country and want to punish Americans who offer support to those who are already here and are hungry and poor.

Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington said he had little sympathy for groups that help undocumented immigrants.

"These are people who are knowingly helping, knowingly promoting illegal immigration," he said. "The very people complaining about this are the very ones who helped bring about the illegal immigration problem in the first place" by offering them services.

Well Peter King, who is also chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is trying to allieve the fears of local charity workers who fear that the feds are going to raid churches by telling people that he will change the wording in the bill because they say the language is so broad. And rightly so. (King willing to redo bill)

Will I be thrown in jail because Eduardo cuts my grass and Juan does my sprinklers? Will my former colleagues at Parish Outreach be jailed because they collect and distribute food for the poor immigrants in our community? Will the pastor of St Brigids go to jail because there is a Hatian Mass, an Italian Mass and a Spanish one on Sundays? Is he aiding and abetting criminals? Will the Feds be checking green cards outside the church?

"Nobody is going to be going to churches locking people up," Peter King said. "If they are facilitating immigrants coming into the country illegally, that's another thing."

What does he mean by "facilitating"? You know how those neocons have been changing the meaning of words. It's no wonder that people have little faith in what law makers say.

Church and immigrant groups call the bill the harshest piece of anti-immigrant legislation in 70 years. Supporters say it would help bring under control a situation of anarchy at the border that has swelled the number of undocumented immigrants in the country to 11 million, including an estimated 100,000 on Long Island.

King said the bill is unlikely to be passed in its present form by the Senate, which he expected to add provisions for a guest-worker program granting temporary visas mainly to low-skilled workers. However, he did say "a significant portion of it has to become law otherwise no immigration reform bill will pass the House."

This is something I will be keeping my eyes on. Something is very fishy about it.

Mel Gibson: Crackpot

After watching his holy snuff flick, The Passion of the Christ, I realized that Gibson's one of those christian blood cult members. Nevertheless, The Lippard Blog, has some interesting quotes from a playboy interview with Melvin who proves that he isn't very bright at all... and isn't afraid of letting the world know... somewhat like Tom Cruise, another actor I can't take.

Excerpts of the excerpts at Lippard Blog:

PLAYBOY: So you can't accept that we descended from monkeys and apes?
GIBSON: No, I think it's bullshit. If it isn't, why are they still around? How come apes aren't people yet?

Bwahahahahaha. Guess he was too busy looking in the mirror instead of actually paying attention in science class. Or maybe he ought to watch the Discovery Channel.

Oh and he's so broad minded too. Not.

PLAYBOY: What about allowing women to be priests?
GIBSON: No.
PLAYBOY: Why not?
GIBSON: I'll get kicked around for saying it, but men and women are just different. They're not equal. The same way that you and I are not equal.
PLAYBOY: That's true. You have more money.
GIBSON: You might be more intelligent, or you might have a bigger dick. Whatever it is, nobody's equal...

Oh yes, the dick plays a huge part in equality issues.... dickhead.

On Clinton:

PLAYBOY: He was just 18 then.
GIBSON: Somebody knew then that he would be president now.
PLAYBOY: You really believe that?
GIBSON: I really believe that. He was a Rhodes scholar, right? Just like Bob Hawke. Do you know what a Rhodes scholar is? Cecil Rhodes established the Rhodes scholarship for those young men and women who want to strive for a new world order. Have you heard that before? George Bush? CIA? Really, it's Marxism, but it just doesn't want to call itself that. Karl had the right idea, but he was too forward about saying what it was. Get power but don't admit to it. Do it by stealth. There's a whole trend of Rhodes scholars who will be politicians around the world.

Oh Gibson's just jealous because he is so ignorant.
I have to get my hands on that issue of playboy to see the whole interview. I hear it's a doozy.

Cutting to the Chase

Here are the last two paragraphs of an excellent post today by John Dean (Findlaw's Writ):

"Bush's unauthorized surveillance, in particular, seems very likely to be ineffective. According to experts with whom I have spoken, Bush's approach is like hunting for the proverbial needle in the haystack. As sophisticated as NSA's data mining equipment may be, it cannot, for example, crack codes it does not recognize. So the terrorist communicating in code may escape detection, even if data mining does reach him.

"In short, Bush is hoping to get lucky. Such a gamble seems a slim pretext for acting in such blatant violation of Congress' law. In acting here without Congressional approval, Bush has underlined that his Presidency is unchecked - in his and his attorneys' view, utterly beyond the law. Now that he has turned the truly awesome powers of the NSA on Americans, what asserted powers will Bush use next? And when - if ever - will we - and Congress -- discover that he is using them?"

Stood up by his Mandate

Remember after the election when bush boasted of his “mandate”. He had his pockets full of political capital and he and his mandate were going to party hardy. He would swoosh his mandate off his feet as they feasted on Social Security reform and danced to the music of victory in Iraq.

They would trip the light fantastic over the bodies of dead soldiers and avoid the smatters of human blood. They would sneer at the Left while they waved and blew kisses to the religious right. They were even going to let more money flutter down to big corporations and they would do it with their abundance of political capital. Oh what a time they would have. They were a couple made in heaven, this george fellow and his new “mandate”.

While bush bragged about his mandate and his political capital, something went wrong. While he was prepping and preening he was interrupted by some visitors. There was Terri Schiavo, Cindy Sheehan, Katrina, Harriet, Brownie and a few others. He tried to push them out because they would mess up the place. How could he entertain his mandate with these women in his house? They did not fit into his plan. He must do something with them. He insisted they leave, but they just wouldn’t go away. Finally, in desperation he shoved them in the closet and slammed the door. He tried to do away with all traces of them. Then he waited for the big moment. He waited and waited for his Mr. Right to come a-calling. Weeks and months went by but his doorbell did not ring. He had been stood up by his idolized mandate and all he had left was a closet filled with people and events he did not want. He tried to blame those in the closet for causing his mandate to stand him up. Had it not been for them he thought, he would now be happily in the arms of his mandate. It’s not his fault, it was their fault. Because of them he lost his chance to have what he thought he clearly deserved.

What he failed to realize was that the mandate had never been anything but a figment of his imagination. But, those in the closet were real and had he dealt with them with respect, knowledge, humility and a sense of reality, he might very well have been able to receive that mandate he was expecting.

Inept Clowns fall from High Wire

Just about every day we read or hear more about elected Republican politicians and some sort of corruption. Either they have broken the law outright or they are in deep legal doo doo. It’s like watching an inept bunch of dangerous circus clowns on a high wire. Are they so pompous that they think they can get away with what they’ve been doing? Or are they just stupid? When you analyze what they have been up to, it seems they are both. They are pompous enough to climb up to the high wire and stupid enough to think they could stay there.

Don’t worry; they won’t get away with it. Our justice system is neither stupid nor is it corrupt. Sure there is a bit-o-bias in every court room, but there is also a bit-o-Constitution hanging in there too. Case in point - Terri Schiavo. No matter how loud and bleating the legal requests were, the court remained sane. Common sense prevailed and so did the law. Of course I don’t believe that those who sponsored the protestations gave a damn about that woman or her life. They were simply playing a part hoping to keep the freaks at their side show until the next elections.

I remember back when President Clinton was in all his trouble. A lady called in to C-span and she was wailing about the disgrace that President Clinton had brought to the oval office. After her bitching and moaning she said, “How do I explain to my five year old what the president has done?” Of course you’re thinking what I thought that morning, how many children at the age of five know squat about politics or even that the president exists. If the mother felt she had to explain anything to her child, she might just say that the president did something wrong. Kids that age don’t usually expect, want, understand or care a lot about details. That’s why kids’ books have few words and lots of pictures.

I think about that lady frequently as all the Republicans scandals come popping up. Wonder how she’s explaining all this to her now ten year old kid? How does she go about telling her little intellect that the new president is listening in to mommy and daddy’s phone calls? How does she explain that soldiers are dying every day because this president lied and took our country to a war that never should have been? How does she explain Abramoff’s and Frist’s and Delay’s and Libby’s criminal activities? Maybe she’ll just say that they are dangerous, pompous, stupid, inept circus clowns on a high wire and now they’re falling down. I think even a ten year old could comprehend that sort of thing.

A New Christian NBC Series

The American Family Association is urging members to write to NBC at once because a new series, "The Book of Daniel" is written by a practicing homosexual, there will be a homosexual as a regular in the series and what's more the whole family of the Episcopal priest is dysfunctional.

"The main character is Daniel Webster, a drug-addicted Episcopal priest whose wife depends heavily on her mid-day martinis.

Webster regularly sees and talks with a very unconventional white-robed, bearded Jesus. The Webster family is rounded out by a 23-year-old homosexual Republican son, a 16-year-old daughter who is a drug dealer, and a 16-year-old adopted son who is having sex with the bishop's daughter.

At the office, his lesbian secretary is sleeping with his sister-in-law."

Why it sounds downright HBO-ish! The horror. I don't get the homosexual republican though.

I have a better idea for a Christian NBC show:

Premise: An Episcopal priest with a lovely wife and 3 adorable children reside in a parish in a wealthy NYC suburb. Every day the family gathers together to thank God and praise him for all the blessings he has bestowed on them and their parishioners.

In one episode, little Mary is almost late for Mass. Dad gives her a stern look as she sits out of breath as the service begins. Later on, she explains how she helped a homeless kitten out of tree and that's why she was late. The whole family laughs and hugs little Mary. Another disaster is averted.

Makes for compelling television doesn't it?

In another episode, the priest councils a young gay man and convinces him to let go of the path he is on. The young man marries the girl next door and they live happily ever after.

The following week, the priest asks parishioners to bring canned goods for the poor. They do. The poor people in a neighboring town are grateful. The parishioners meet at the golf club for cocktails on the patio and talk about how good they feel for giving.

In a special Easter episode, the parishioners are concerned because the stock market took a plunge earlier in the week. A sermon about riding out the storm lifts the spirits of the parishioners who are afraid they will be wiped out and might have to move to a neighboring town. They begin to pray much harder and miraculously the market swings upward on Holy Thursday.

Concerned that some of the parishioners may be abusing their martinis, the priest preaches the importance of moderation and suggests that the flock limit their martini time each day to the hours between 5-7PM. Several parishioners heed the advice and their children's grades go up.

I just described the neighborhood where I lived with my parents. Real exciting eh? Oh lots of good stuff happened behind closed doors, but no one would want to see that on the tele, would they?

NSA Web Site Spies On You

NSA Web Site Places 'Cookies' on Computers

The NSA claims it made a mistake when it was discovered that cookies (files placed on a visitors computer to track their activity) from the NSA website didn't expire until 2035.

"Don Weber, an NSA spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday that the cookie use resulted from a recent software upgrade. Normally, the site uses temporary, permissible cookies that are automatically deleted when users close their Web browsers, he said, but the software in use shipped with persistent cookies already on.

"After being tipped to the issue, we immediately disabled the cookies," he said."

Since the NSA has been caught illegally spying on people recently. I hardly believe that the cookies are inadvertant.

"In a 2003 memo, the White House's Office of Management and Budget prohibits federal agencies from using persistent cookies — those that aren't automatically deleted right away — unless there is a "compelling need.""

Ah, jebus, everything is "compelling" with this White House gang.

Iron Hymen or Abstinence

Words of Wisdom From Our First Lady:

"Take it from me ladies---this is no good reason to rush into S-E-X. That's why I pray you choose abstinence, so you need never know the heartbreak of being trapped in a loveless marriage just because you drank too many margaritas one night and gave up your honey pot to a pushy young cokehead from a so -called 'good family."

Porn Star?

Ever fantasize about becoming a porn star? Probably not, but come on and play the game.

If you did become a porn star, what would your screen name be?

You can get your very own porn star name here: (Blogthings).


I will henceforth be known as “Jenny Jiggles”.

traditional texas

Crime Stoppers of Houston is paying $5000 in cash for the arrest and convictions of area people who fire their guns into the air on New Year's Day. At the stroke of midnight, Houstonians and other Texans fire their guns into the air to celebrate that living in Houston did not kill them last year. Unfortunately this festive outburst of joy kills other people as what bullets go up, must come down through roofs, into people sometimes miles from the gunfire.

One woman told local reporters on camera on the noon broadcast today that she knew it was wrong to do it but it was her family's tradition so that is what they do on New Year's Eve.

Another fine tradition in Texas is raising sports playing sons to believe that they can have whatever they want. They get passing grades to stay eligible to play sports. They are celebrated as demi-gods. Middle school and high school are organized training grounds, supported by tax payer dollars, to raise athletes.

Women are encouraged to give their all for these young men. Drill teams and cheerleaders dress provocatively on Friday for pep rallies where they dance, in contagion, identical and interchangeable, in anorexic and bulimic bodies, costumed and coiffed to resemble each other, in short skirts, barely covering their butts, in frilly satin and silk underpants, kicking their legs high over their heads. (Think of that Viagra commercial where the man throws the football through the tire swing to the cheers and joy of his faithful female companion.) They don't hold these enthusiastic rituals for the girl's volleyball team or the honor roll. Homecoming dances and dinners and Homecoming Queens and Courts where the message is clear, be young, celebrate our harvest and fertility, pair up or die and wither alone.

Young men are taught that all women, after all they are interchangeable, are available for sport. And women are taught that they must be desirable and displayed. Two young men in the football capital of Texas, Midland-Odessa, home of George W. Bush, are charged with raping a classmate. What is so surprising about this sad affair is that it was reported, the charges were seriously considered and the young men were charged with sexual assault. The newspaper accounts celebrated the young man's football prowess and that the young man was "committed" to Texas A&M University. No, it wasn't for his mental health but he was "committed" to playing football for A&M. This of course makes his arrest a tragedy.

The young woman was, according to the young man's attorney, drinking and had an alcohol related traffic accident that day. He is trying the "she was drunk, she wanted it," defense on the potential jury pool. The thing is, drunk people cannot consent to sexual intercourse. He is also saying that the police department is motivated by their desire for notoriety. Really? I didn't realize they needed a career boost.

One of the young man's mothers commented that her son was innocent of the rape that allegedly took place in her home. She did not comment on the young woman's rape kit or the photographs taken of her bruises. Her parents did not comment on the charges they helped their daughter file against the two young men.

The Economy Is Doing Very Well, NOT!

Don't let the people whose job it is to make Chimp Boy look good convince you things are going well.

http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/pm110

2 questions

1. Why has an RTA company car (Regional Transit Authority of New Orleans) been "living" north of St. Francisville, LA ever since the day before Katrina? Did the RTA authorize their officers/executives to commandeer publicly-owned vehicles for personal evacuations? An NOPD wuss pulled that stunt --- and went AWOL to Mississippi, then Baton Rouge, in an NOPD car, and now he's fired and probably going to jail. What's the administrative difference here?

2. Why is a company with the magnetic signs reading, "Gulf Coast Rebuilding, Inc." parking their "company truck" at a local seafood/game-processing business, bringing in freshly-killed deer to be dressed/butchered, when they're on FEMA time?

Oh, and here's your Puking Blood From Disgust Moment:

Gray Line Tours is now offering tours, at $35 bucks a pop, to pass through the Uptown and Lakeview areas that were affected by Katrina. They won't be viewing the devastation of the Lower 9th Ward, of course, because that's too "sensitive." In other words, it's only "tragic" if rich white people lose PROPERTY, but not if poor black people lose LIVES.

An Empty House and a Full Heart

Hang on with me now, this is going to be difficult. I’m going to tell you about the house I can see when I look out my window. There’s a “For Sale” sign in the yard that popped up sometime this weekend. That house belongs to Mr. Pop and me. It was our first home and we were its first occupants. We moved out of that house when we had more stuff than room. We had an opportunity to purchase a larger house, the one we live in now, and we took it. We moved across the street and for about six years the other house has been a rental house. When our last tenants moved out we decided that we no longer wanted the headaches of being landlords, plus with the housing market the way it is here, selling the house now is the wisest thing to do. With that all said, I’m taking you over there and we’ll see what memories are still lurking in those empty rooms.

Opening the front door, I see the vision of Mr. Pop and me the first time we walked in that door and the pride we felt as we entered our very first home together. We were human smiling machines and we were stuck on grin.

I see the blinds there at the glass doors. Those are the ones that our little dog, Shaky, decided to chew on one night. We got them repaired later.

As I look out on the patio I see Mom cat and her little kittens she gave birth to right there in a little box that I had decorated for her for the occasion. I see those little kittens all snuggled up with their brand new momma cat. I see them there and I see them when they were old enough to scamper around and get into all kinds of trouble. We kept Mom Cat, Claire and Grimley and gave the other two to a friend.

When I look back into the living room, I see the Christmas tree the year that we were hunting for Grimley and found her curled up among the presents. The memory is fresh even though it’s years and years old.

In the dining room I see the table all set and ready for Christmas dinner to be served. That was the year that Mr. Pop became ill just before dinner. I had prepared enough food to feed an army and no one to feed but me. In a sort of Christmas pity I opened a gift bottle of wine and drank it. Not my proudest moment.

Oh, there are just so many memories in this house and outside it too. In the back yard I see all the plants that we lovingly placed there so many years ago. My how they have grown. I’m pretty sure they still remember me. They watched me when I cried and they watched Mr. Pop and I admire their beauty as we cared for them. The two big oaks in the front yard were barely seedlings when we planted them. The palm we planted in hopes of one day being able to hook a hammock to it is finally big enough to fulfill that purpose.

Now the hardest part, going to the little fenced in area of the yard. You see that was our little pet cemetery. That’s where almost all of them are now. Some were pets and some were strays that we cared for as much as they would allow. Each time we had to bury one of them, we planted a plant on its grave. The cemetery is a garden. I have to leave them now for the last time so it’s important to me that I place their memories safely and deeply inside my heart. That’s the part I get to keep forever.

See? That’s why I had to do this. I had to go back over there one more time and pluck my memories from their special places. I had to take what was mine. I had to remember all the happy times and the sad times. I had to recall each animal that now resides beneath the garden. I had to retrieve their memories. A lot of my life was there.

To anyone else the house would appear to be empty and now it officially is, because I have a very full heart stuffed with memories. I think I got them every one. I tried to find as many as I could. And yes, I sure have cried. Sometimes it’s just so damned hard to let go, say goodbye and walk away from a part of your life, even if you get to take with you a heart stuffed full with memories.

odd news

Oh my, the famous Nun Bun, a cinnamon bun that looks like Mother Teresa was stolen on Christmas day from a coffeehouse in Nashville. Tourists from all over the world patronized the Bongo Java Coffee Shop.




Darwin's rolling over in his grave: Speaking of religious fanatics and the drawback to living in a supposed democracy is that complete idiots who are breeding at a rapid pace are free to elect their own kind. A war against evolution is being waged in order to promote unintelligent design without exactly calling it that. We need more science teachers in this country.

Extra Virgin? A Catholic magazine inadvertenly ran an ad for a statue of the virgin Mary wearing a veil of a latex condom. It apparently slipped by the editors who are Catholic priests and don't know what a condom looks like! Now that's funny.

The right wing bloggers are being paid to spew lies.

Imagine that? This is a must read from Jane at Firedoglake.

Meanwhile our leader is pressing newspaper editors to kill stories about secret prisons and domestic spying in the name of "national security".

What have we learned from all this?

From Fascism Anyone:

• 6. A controlled mass media. Under some of the regimes, the mass media were under strict direct control and could be relied upon never to stray from the party line. Other regimes exercised more subtle power to ensure media orthodoxy. Methods included the control of licensing and access to resources, economic pressure, appeals to patriotism, and implied threats. The leaders of the mass media were often politically compatible with the power elite. The result was usually success in keeping the general public unaware of the regimes’ excesses.
• 7. Obsession with national security. Inevitably, a national security apparatus was under direct control of the ruling elite. It was usually an instrument of oppression, operating in secret and beyond any constraints. Its actions were justified under the rubric of protecting “national security,” and questioning its activities was portrayed as unpatriotic or even treasonous.

UPDATE: I just found this item in WaPo:
Bloggers, Money Now Weapons in Information War
U.S. Recruits Advocates to the Front, Pays Iraqi TV Stations for Coverage

Not only did the US pay Iraqi TV stations to air favorable news about the US' bombing the shit out of Iraq, a Marine officer in Iraq recruited a blogger to go there and write the good stuff that was coming out of Iraq.

Bizzaro Christmas Eve

A young man who works/worked for the husband at the car dealer dropped by on Christmas Eve to pick up toys for homeless children. Danny is in the Army Reserves and was part of the invasion of Iraq back in '03. Luckily he made it home safely and in one piece. I found out on Saturday that his mother didn't even know he went to Iraq. He told his mom that he was away at school.

Danny will be telling her that he is going away to school again for 19 months as he's been deployed again to Iraq starting in February. Of course this distressed the hell out of me. I immediately went into crazy woman mode over the illegal war. Danny didn't want to hear it though. I was also particularly pissed at the Ford dealer for laying him off the day before Christmas Eve, the fucking bastards. But they aren't selling cars due to the boycotts by the religious, the gays and the environmentalists. How does a young person get a fucking break in this country?

I told him that I could get him hooked up with an underground railroad to Canada, but he told me that it's a job and it pays well. He wants to go. I asked how much it pays and he told me $3,500/month. I told him that was ridiculous to be willing to risk his life for that pissy amount of money... not that I can imagine any amount of money that would motivate me to go to Iraq. Danny remained calm despite my ranting and questioning him about how it felt to go into people's houses and search them disrupting their lives. He shrugged. It's a job.

My 20 year old son witnessed this, smirking at my typical 'Liz-ness' as he calls it. I never asked my son what he thought of fighting in this war. I never gave him the chance to tell me anything because I informed him that I would get him out of the country before I would allow him to be a part of bombing the hell out another country. On the other hand, if our country was invaded and being bombed, you can bet your ass that I would be an insurgent who set bombs on the side of the road and would have the whole family involved. Oh I certainly do believe in fighting to defend my country. I don't believe anyone is defending my freedom by killing Iraqi's. But I digress.

Danny's girlfriend who also worked for the same car dealer was also laid off right before Christmas. She happens to be pregnant and they will be married before he's deployed. He needs to get her on his benefits as she lost hers.

He told me that her parents are mad about her situation and her mom told her that she won't be able to help her out because the other daughter is pregnant with twins and so her welfare comes first. She hasn't met his parents and he hasn't met hers. oy vay. Her parents are from Italy and his from China. Can you imagine what a cool exotic child they are going to have?

His visit left me rather perturbed to say the least, but I had a rib roast in the oven to worry about and my guests would soon be arriving. Now that the Christmas weekend is over, I have time to reflect on all this bullshit for an hour or so as I have to get off the computer and clean up the house for the son's girlfriend from Arizona who will be arriving at LaGuardia later on (if the fog lets up). I have to put on my pretend happy face again. Ho Ho Ho!

Anything interesting happen over your Holiday weekend?

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Before I forget, it was bitter sweet to see the FEMA trailers decorated for Christmas in Katrina ravaged Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. And these before and after pictures of this town are mind blowing. The human spirit is just amazing.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"...our governments are composed of individuals who seek office NOT to serve the people - even if they give lip service to that idea - but for money and power. If the "payoff" of money and power were removed from the sphere of government, if our elected officials were required to "post the number of patients who had died" above their doors, and were only paid if they were successful in solving the problems of the public sector, you can be sure that there would be a mad rush by many of them to get out of government, and the field would be left to those who were really capable of solving our problems." -- Laura Knight-Jadczyk

what would Einstein teach?

"How could this happen?" Ms. [Jennie Mae] Brown asked Representative Gibson C. Armstrong two summers ago, complaining about a physics professor at the York campus of Pennsylvania State University who she said routinely used class time to belittle President Bush and the war in Iraq. As an Air Force veteran, Ms. Brown said she felt the teacher's comments were inappropriate for the classroom.

The encounter has blossomed into an official legislative inquiry, putting Pennsylvania in the middle of a national debate spurred by conservatives over whether public universities are promoting largely liberal positions and discriminating against students who disagree with them. New York Times

At first blush, you too may think, "well, what does a physics professor know about politics? He should keep his opinions to himself and teach science."

We don't actually know what Ms. Brown's professor said or didn't say in his physics classroom. We don't know if this is a publicity stunt, and it certainly has the feel of it. We don't know if the photogenic, patriotic, wholesome Ms. Brown, not a typical co-ed, is the latest useful soldier in the culture wars for David Horowitz, a professional busy body and president of his self styled Center for the Study of Popular Culture. Mr. Horowitz, not found in headlines as a liberal, has shed his early political ideology to get his name in the papers and no doubt raise money for his flavor of the week cause. He has taken a break from studying popular culture and made a foray into lobbying state legislatures, the political repositories of intellectual capital in our intellectually giant nation, and evidently a way of getting into BlondeSense and the New York Times.

But let's say, and why not, that Ms. Brown's professor, unidentified in the New York Times, but perhaps was one of the many professors listed in the campus website, did indeed say something untoward about Mr. Bush and Mr. Bush's war. Since Mr. Bush has injected himself into the American classroom discussing intelligent design and ignoring the theory of evolution, it isn't beyond the scope of a college physics classroom to illustrate that perhaps Mr. Bush should leave the teaching of science to the science teachers and conduct his experiments in social and political engineering in Iraq. Not that he doesn't need the help of rocket scientists to do that. And he certainly got the help of physics experts when it came to the development of weapon systems. One of the reasons college campuses erupted in the 1960s was college and university support and development of weapons, chemicals, and ever increasingly efficient methods of killing large numbers of men, women, and children. The Establishment of which colleges and universities certainly are, don't really want eruptions. It cuts into their fundraising.

What of German physics teachers who were required to inject the tenets of national socialism in their classrooms? And when they refused to teach only German ideas, college students ran professors off campuses and burned libraries. What of the Russian mathematicians who were required to teach Stalinist algorithms for the creation of the new Soviet Man? Their personal mail was opened and they were imprisoned for criticizing Stalin in it. It isn't wrong for secondary teachers like Aleskandr Solzhenitsyn or university professors like Albert Einstein to criticize their nation's leaders. An educated populace demands it.

Ms. Brown and Mr. Horowitz are injecting political correctness into the classroom by criticizing professors. They want academic freedom for students while they would deny it to professors. I am sure the Penn State physics professor did not ask Ms. Brown about the political correctness of her views about Bush or the war on his final exam. He asked her about physics.

My own students complained to a local radio talk show host about their assignment to use New York Times accounts of the perception that there was something rotten in the Florida presidential election in 2000 and write about what makes some people believe the election was stolen. The radio host had listeners call the community college, a place not unlike the Texas Legislature, and complain about me. My supervisors wrung their hands and asked to see my assignment, never realizing that academic freedom means never having to question a veteran teacher's assignments. I should have known that academic exploration is impossible at the community college level. In my teaching career I had already gotten reprimanded for telling my favorite political quote to a class. I was discussing our state's reluctance to fund bilingual education and recalled that our first female governor, Miriam Ferguson, commented that Texas school children didn't need bilingual education because the English language is good enough for Jesus Christ and therefore good enough for the school children of Texas. My academic dean told me not to challenge students' myths. I am not sure which myth he wanted to preserve, the one that our political leaders have sense or that Jesus Christ spoke red-lettered English. [An administrator of that particular junior college came by my office while I was hanging a photo of JFK and Jackie campaigning in a New York tickertape parade. He commented, "We were so relieved when he was killed."]

The myths that conservatives want to preserve--that Bush has sense, our political leaders know best, that college is full of crazy, academic anarchists with funny ideas about human nature, the natural world, and the really dangerous stuff like, civil rights, worker rights, sexual, political, and economic freedom-- are the myths the world, according to The Establishment, would be better off ignoring. We don't need no trouble making religious leaders, college professors, Christmas hating Jews, uppity Negros out of New Orleans or wild college students thinking about not supporting the war their students loans were cut to pay for. We certainly don't need any blonde co-eds thinking for themselves and questioning military service which funds her education. We can't ignore Mr. Horowitz. He is not just studying the political culture but is acting upon it.

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah
And Whatever Else You Celebrate

With Love From The Blondesense Bloggers
Liz, Patricia, Vicki, Jaye, Joanna and Peter

What If?

What if you could create your own reality? Deliberately and on purpose.
What would that be like?
Is it possible we do?

And The Lawd Said, "That Is Not-Yo-Cheese"

Come on. Put aside your glue guns, your cookie dough, your glitter pens, and your felt scaps.
Do not think of the cards you have not sent, the goodies you have not baked, gifts you have not wrapped. I offer you a strong coctail and absolution:

You are only one person. You cannot do it all. So drink up and be merry and remember, there is always next year.

Breaking News!!!

Some restaurant in Florida was cleaning out the nacho warming pan and looked in the pan and THERE WAS JESUS! Right there in the nacho pan.

That Jesus. He pops up in the strangest places.
Must be the war on Christmas. He had to go underground/under pan. Dose this mean Jesus is cheesy?

He was etched in the underneath warming pan. The one that holds the water.
Walk on water, hold water, water to wine, wine to nachos, nachos to tequila. JESUS LIKES TEQUILA!

What a friend we have in nacho cheeses.

Jesus loves cheese, this I know.

Jesus loves the little cheeses,
all the little cheeses of the world
Swiss and gouda, cheddar, jack
all are yummy as a snack
Jesus loves the little cheeses of the world.

So pull that reindeer out your azz and have some Tequila and nachos!

Apparently Not Everyone Thinks We're The Good Guys:

"Italy issues EU arrest warrant for CIA team"

MILAN (Reuters)- "A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003, Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday.

"Milan magistrates suspect a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.

"Prosecutors asked the Italian Justice Ministry last month to seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States, but Justice Minister Roberto Castelli has not yet decided whether to act on the request.

"A European Union warrant is automatically valid across the 25-nation bloc and does not require approval of any government.

"The warrant was agreed by the European Union in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and was hailed as a key part of the bloc's fight against terrorism.

"Spataro told Reuters he had also asked Interpol to try to detain the suspects anywhere in the world.

"Earlier this week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he did not believe CIA agents had kidnapped Nasr, but added that governments were not going to defeat terrorism by playing by the rules.

"Justice officials believe Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, is still in custody in Egypt. Italian investigators have accused him of ties to al Qaeda and recruiting combatants for Iraq, and a Milan judge has issued a warrant for his arrest.

"There has been a series of investigations into whether U.S. intelligence officials used Europe as a hub to illegally transfer militant suspects to third countries for interrogation.

"The U.S. embassy in Rome was not immediately available for comment."

Presidential Holiday Message

excerpts:

I hope you all have a happy holiday. This has been a year of strong progress toward a freer, more peaceful world, and a prosperous America... blah blah blah... Our economy is strong and getting stronger... blah blah blah... It's been a good year for the American people. We've got a lot of work to do... blah blah blah...blah blah blah...we're still under threat, there's still an enemy that wants to harm us... blah blah blah... Anyway, I hope you all have a great holiday. Thank you very much...

-------------

Ann Coulter's Holiday Message:
"[T]he government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo"

WORST. XMAS. EVER.

Okay, here's the poll of the day, just to get all of the angst and anxiety out before The "Big Day", when excavating those feelings are much more likely to have y'all on the roof of the house with a high-powered rifle, making up for all of the inequities of your childhoods/ongoing relationships with relatives/in-laws.

(Consider it my public service moment for the holidays.)

My worst?

Well, believe it or not, it wasn't entirely purposefully inflicted by my "family," although it was their fault (these people should not run ANYTHING, let alone their own business ventures).

"We" went bankrupt, lost the house, the car, everything. Got the eviction notice on my 17th birthday, nailed to the front door of the house.

So, in my senior year of high school (which was never a thrill for me anyway), I was moving-in with my grandmother (definitely a move UP) and trying to deal with my fuckwad parents.

I got a six-dollar hair dryer from the Dollar General Store and a block of commodity cheese.

I shit you not.

And the fireworks that year (as in most) had nothing to do with Chinese gunpowder.

Okay, y'all's turn!

C'mon, dig deep, dredge up all of the horrors, use BlondeSense for instamatic group therapy, and we'll all deal with our relatives with a little less bloodshed.

Keeping in mind, of course, that if said dredging/catharsis should RESULT in actual bloodshed, neither this author nor the operators of BlondeSense are liable for damages, real or imagined or psychological, that should ensue.

This is for shits & giggles, folks, not to ramp y'all up for a mass-murder in a shopping mall, as entertaining a concept as that may be.

So get off yer asses and dig out the worst xmas memories ever, and explain to the world why these fake "holidays" really suck.

And for all of y'all who want to flog me with holly branches for dumping on your precious holiday, just remember that the overweening arrogance of christians (especially at this time of year) is enough to set me off on a multi-state rampage. Don't assume that just because YOU "live" for all of this man-made manipulative marketing HORSESHIT, that the rest of us should be falling in line and worshipping at the same plastic creche.

So NYEH.

I read the news today oh boy

Congress has been working overtime. Good. Unfortunately they renewed the Patriot Act for another 6 months. So I guess we won't be attacked here in NY over the holidays. On the other hand, there won't be arctic drilling.

Speaking of NY, we are still having a mass transit strike. It's taking a drastic toll on businesses.

Saddam claimed that the US tortured him. The US denies it. Of course he is lying because we don't torture. duh.

Hey let's move to Canada. They are going to allow group sex at swinger's clubs.

Go over to MSNBC and place your vote. Should the preznit be impeached? So far, it's overwhelming so.

Tie breaking Cheney says a big, "merry fuck you" to Medicare, Medicaid, Student Loans, Food Stamps, etc in order to compensate for millionaires tax cuts.
.

Predictions for 2006

Okay let’s hear what you think. What will the year 2006 bring?

Indictments? Impeachments? Weather? (If you predict my house will be hit by a hurricane in 2006, I’m reporting you to Santa Claus and suggesting he bring you a giant lump of coal.)

So what do you believe we might expect to happ