July 2004 Archives

I'll probably just lump some a lot of stuff into a rant and leave it there for folks to comment on if they wish to - and they won't of course, but that's okay.

Thanks to Leslie's mom Cindy for rolling into town and spending a week with us. Got to play tourist some more and check out Penn & Teller's show at the Rio (following our Blue Man Group visit previously with Tracy - by the way, thanks for conspiring with Leslie to have a case of Leinie's shipped to me; GREAT birthday present!). Also ran around Red Rock and hung out on the Strip some more. That and it's just fun to have some visitors from time to time.

More good news for Vegas on the show front. We're getting Phantom of the Opera as a regular run. See? This is a real city after all. As for other Vegas events, you might expect me to have an opinion on the Linda Ronstadt thing. I really don't. If you haven't researched the talent you are planning on viewing a performance of, you are the fool, not the entertainer. More reactions available here. And don't start me on that idiot Schwarzenegger.

Two articles from the Las Vegas Weekly. One on the religious right and another on the whole politicized entertainment industry we are now seeing emerge. Just presented as food for thought.

And now, commentary:

The ultimate flip-flop: Our "war president" wants to be the "peace president." Dr. Jeckyl, meet Mr. Hyde. (The phrase from the first link is there somewhere about ten paragraphs down.)

The Las Vegas Review-Journal gets it right for maybe the first time this year:

Meddling from the GOP and their stalwarts, and a broader perspective on the race issue.

Days before Bush went to Detroit to take nice pictures make nice with the Urban League, GOP State Rep. John Pappageorge had some plausibly off-color remarks concerning the election and black voters. Basically, I believe he didn't want those words said out loud, but it doesn't mean he didn't want to say them. Speaking of racial support lacking for the president, it is now found missing among Hispanics (damn I hate that phrase) as well.

Then there's the whole "Kerry is a Bin Laden supporter" bumper sticker smear job. If anything, Bush has been their biggest recruiter, but saying that in public should be beneath a national political party. Guess that tells you who we are dealing with on the other side. Then there are the fools who plan to attack media vans at the Democratic National Convention. Sounds like a fear of having people hear another side of their guy's story to me.

A response to the whole "Kerry is a liberal" tag the GOP is trying to apply. Besides, since when was giving a crap about your fellow man a bad thing? (Use someone@bugmenot.com and someone to log on.) Another Post story concerning military support for the administation - and the growing lack thereof. The Guardian carries a similar story.

And I wanted to let this go, but it bugs the heck out of me that the administration would even considering moving election day. I'm pretty sure it's not un-Constitutional, but seriously, talk about trying to stack the deck. Would they even tell those of us who aren't GOP declared what the new date would be? I would have laughed at that a couple years ago, but now it's just kind of frightening.

And now a quickfire round. Homeland Security whaling on our international visitors. For all accounts, still AWOL. Thoughts on the annoying Jeopardy Guy. The always racially sensitive rural Texas solution. The ultimate beer run. Corporate creeps still profiting despite being class-A jerks. Dead man walking. The Donald weighs in. Lonely wimp (not to mention bad husband). Drunken idiot. Alright, you've had enough.

I'll be out of town for the better part of the next month on work stuff, so it will be very slim on updates. Consider the past month lower expectation training. More fun articles in the coming days.

Well, between the apartment move, a visit from Tracy, and my latest project I haven't had a lot of free time for posting - or for Galva Guard updates. Hopefully I can get back up to speed this weekend. By the way, thanks to Tracy for coming on out and having what I hope was a good time with us. Between the Hoover Dam, goofing off on the Strip and the Blue Man Group show, I enjoyed myself. Come back any time. If anyone else wants to swing by and visit, you know how to contact us.

Let's start off with some EvilNed submissions and those from others as well.

Our first offering is Rock, Paper, Saddam. If you don't know, ask Aziz. Best Buy decides that the customer is wrong. This just ensures I won't be going in for any hospital visits if I can help it. And if you live and work in Virginia, congratulations and enjoy those weekends off.

I don't remember where this came from, only that it is: a) a tad inappropriate (you've been warned), and b) funny.

I was tending towards a theme here. Today, Bush decided not to show up - again - to a NAACP convention. Which, of course, shows you how serious he is about race relations in this country. I'm actually not going to fault him too much for this, even though he's probably pandering to all the Klan members planning to vote for him. In any case, the African-American community is having a small discussion concerning the dreaded N-word, including another tirade by Bill Cosby calling out all the punk rapper types to get an education and stop being laughing-stocks. Personally, more power to anyone trying to advance their lives and their people without looking foolish. Then again, I think this is a problem best solved internally too.

Since I've brought up Republicans, I forgot to mention this little tidbit about the Texas GOP running on the platform that this is a "Christian Nation." Look - and this expands to a lot of my email senders of late as well - it is all well and good for you to have a religion and, within reason, look for converts for it as well. In fact, I think everyone needs something to believe in. But doing so on a national level, to the point of exclusion and making others feel unimportant and irrelevant is not what this country was founded on. So, please, take a second and realize the world is bigger than you and your belief system. Besides, if you are a church member, the president is trying to make a database of where you live. Creepy.

In case you were wondering who is helping Ralph Nader, the answer would be conservatives and probably even the Bush campaign itself. Oops, that's illegal kids. Then again, that never seemed to stop these guys before. The International Herald Tribune wraps up our day with an article on all that fun privatization you keep hearing about in Iraq and who is benefitting from it. Bonus article: Bruce Sterling on global private armies.