Fine, okay, it's a blog already!

You see, sometimes reading the bad press about you gets you mad. This lets you do stuff you normally couldn't. Today's object lesson is the Houston Texans, who beat out Miami in what should not have been a close game. At least, that's what the talking heads kept telling Miami. And for a first, no sacks on David Carr. Go figure.

If you can't tell I managed to catch a baseball game, parts of three football games, and a really exciting finish to an IRL race today whilst puttering about writing cover letters and making dinner (beef Stroganoff FYI).

We enjoy living here and all, but I sure wish these job prospects would liven up. That's alright though; I have another three weeks of contract work to look forward to so all is not lost. It just isn't all it should be. That, and Leslie's job keeps her busy seven days a week. Not the challenging and rewarding kind of busy she was looking forward to either. More of the "lots of paperwork and people who don't want to do their jobs" kind. Those are my words, not her's. I just make the observations and feed them to you.

To finish on a lighter(?) note, an editorial cartoon from Joe Heller at The Green Bay Press-Gazette about our lovely gas prices.

Having lived there, I know Oklahoma can be short-sighted at times when it comes to cultural issues, but this throws them in to Texas League ridiculousness (is that a word?).

The BBC has an article about computer mishaps that is really surreal and good for a laugh or two.

Slate is running a series about a guy in Japan addressing some of the cliches we have about them. WARNING: the Tuesday article is a very frank assessment of manga.

And there's also an article about how presidents get trapped in their own job, enough to where they believe their own press. Scary.

To close, there's bad news for short people and their paychecks. Sorry.

Incidentally, the website is over on the new server and I think things are shaking themselves out as far as getting that all up and running. Content changes to come. Really.

Most of you already know my feelings about AOL, so it comes as no surprise to me that the low-lifes are now hacking their customer's computers.

Apparently now its illegal to share certain tools or sell them to other people.

Speaking of monopolistic jerks, the Motion Picture Association of America is trying to bribe schools to let them come in and indoctrinate and scare the hell out of kids. Nice guys, huh?

An article about poor historical references and our White House. I was thinking the same thing when I first read parts of that speech.

Interesting articles about getting rid of our oil dependence and on Microsoft's inability to face up to its problems. Interesting, that is, if you actually care about that stuff.

Maybe you'd like to see GM screw up again or British kids popping Viagra?

The gang from Battery F 1/202 are about ready to ship out down to Texas in preparation to go to Iraq early next spring. In case you all don't know, that includes my brother Tom and a few of his high school buds as well as a lot of fathers and such from my old hometown in Galva. Keep them all in your thoughts and send a prayer out, even if you don't believe in that. I'd appreciate it.

In case you are in need of a quick Halloween mask, Forbes has provided for your needs with Billionaire masks.

Fox News almost sued its television component, namely The Simpsons, for satire. They officially have no humor or irony over at the news desk.

Tired of those Nigerian email scam artists? Australia is providing a service to mankind by nabbing one of those punks.

My hard drive crashed the other day and that leaves me in a little bind as far as updates and the like. I have some copies of the webpage but it is old, so I'm probably going to be losing some data. Also, I am aware the menu isn't working and I'm going to try to get that up in the next few days.

Before I go into my usual thing, I wanted to bring up a site for ya if you have some spare cash. The gamers over at Penny Arcade have put up a site called Child's Play. Their goal is to get a bunch of toys and books purchased for the Seattle Children's Hospital and to let people know that gamers aren't a bunch of anti-social thugs. Head to the site, check it all out and get a toy for a child if you wish.

Can't say I've necessarily been busy this past week or so, but time just flies by somehow. Anyway, it hasn't been for lack of stuff to point and laugh at. Let's begin:

You pretty much can figure out what I think our own current presidential administration. So it will be no surprise to you when Evil Ned sent us some instructions about Google and I laughed and laughed. Go to Google, type in the phrase "Miserable Failure" and click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Basically that button leads to the most referenced and linked site related to your search term. In this case, its due to a Richard Gephardt quote and website. Not that I've woken up and become a Gephardt fan, but hey, it sure is a sign that we've got a presidential election coming, right?

Speaking of negative advertising, the GOP has already gone and starting calling anyone who questioned whether or not we should have gone into Iraq a "traitor". Yes, that's right, its now apparently treasonous behavior to even question your government's motives. This from the same pack of imbeciles who want to replace FDR on the dime with Reagan. Last I checked, the whole country hadn't become the Republican party.

Speaking of a bad combination of liberal political correctness and conservative "family values" nonsense, we have the following about a boy suspended from school for talking about his gay mom.

And now, idiots on parade. A Kansas couple gets too into the heat of the moment. Mind your tongue. Bubba lives in Illinois. A teacher ruins it for the kids.

Payback time. A backlash on the whole LA county "master/slave" thing from the tech-focused cartoon User Friendly. An in-yer-face response to the Britney Spears Hollywood star thing - give one to Alice Cooper as well. And just because I love the idea of public humiliation for low-lifes, Maine is putting up a website for all its registered child molestors so everyone can recognize those two-legged scumbags wherever they go.

Some leftovers for ya, being that time of year and all. How to spend $25,000 (AU) researching toast. A piece of technology the president can't even operate is being tested for the battlefield. Plus, the return of Space Invaders.

I woke up this morning and got online, only to be told by a buddy in Singapore to turn on the TV right now! I did, and like most of you got to see the pathetic wasteoid above being probed like a prize cow at the fair.

This, of course, is good news. And while we all get some smug satisfaction out of it, I hope our administration can make the most out of this with other countries. I think we can slap each other on the back and still be somewhat humble about it. As this article states, my brother and probably someone you know still has to go over there are clean up a few messy situations. Let's just hope not having Saddam around makes that job a lot easier.

First we have a girl who was already told once to change jobs for her school work study. So she gets a job hosting at Hooters. She doesn't wear a skimpy outfit and her father is okay with her being there. Now she has found that she won't get credit for it, thanks to her school board. And don't ever get me started on my opinion of most school boards.

Next, we have a second grader busted for saying "hell." Read the article and you'll see she was trying to do the right thing. These are the lessons we teach our kids today. Do what we say. WAIT! That's all wrong, you're going to be punished.

Its not all bad news in education though. In Georgia, you can still say the word "evolution" in school without being labelled a crackpot, liberal idealist. Well, they'll still label you, but you can say the word. Reactionary, Dark Ages freaks. That's a joke, mind.

Before it gets archived, you can read the article, "Ten Technologies That Refused to Die" and nod your head through it much like I did.

And if you happen to have a bar code/magnetic strip on your driver's license, head here to find out what personal information is on it. I'd be really interested to know what's on your's. Not the data itself silly, just what kind.

Updated some stuff on the Galva Guard page. Still need to scan those Galva News articles though.

I haven't done a Boondocks in awhile. I think its time.

Alright, you won't get this from me a lot but here goes. Sometimes I stroll down to the local Barnes & Noble and persue the bookshelves. I don't usually buy anything so basically I'm a nuisance there I guess. Anyways, I found a noteworthy book for all of you using a computer (namely, anyone reading this). It's called PC Annoyances: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things about Your Personal Computer by Steve Bass. Even though I've been working with these darn things for years I still found a lot of neat tidbits I could use to tweak the home computer and I figured I'd share it with the rest of you seeing as we all need some help getting these things to work. The reason I mention it now is that the book, normally $19.95, is on sale at Barnes Noble for like $15 or even cheaper online, $11.25 at Bookpool.

Since I'm on a product placement roll, Leslie & I picked up some new toothpaste awhile back. Its that Crest Whitening Expressions stuff. We got the orange stuff, called Fresh Citrus Breeze. The reason I mention it is that the stuff tastes like those little pink St. Joseph's aspirins we all took when we were kids. Yeah, sounds disgusting but I'm actually hooked on it now.

Onto my usual stuff. Guess where's I'm not eating soon. McCormick & Schmick's. Here's why.

One place we are excited about is the reopening of Lindo Michoacan, a place we enjoyed back when I lived here before.

Okay, downloading songs I already own is illegal, but this isn't? I thought we took rights away from prisoners.

I claim no responsibility for the answers you get from this quiz.

UCLA has posted the results of an international study on internet use. Kind of a fun read if you have the time and willingness to sift through the data.

A slightly more tongue-in-cheek site argues that in our off-and-on quest to conquer Mars, the Red Planet is winning.

In idiot roundup, we have the FIFA president proposing that female soccer players should wear more revealing outfits to boost attendance and ad revenue. The best part of the article is the FIFA spokesman who actually tries to spin his boss' obvious sexist pig crap as a valid argument.

Speaking of presidents living in the past, we now have a federal judge who has been accused of "supporting segregation" and "promoting anti-abortion and anti-voting rights views". Real sweetheart. This was done by bypassing Congress, which is always a nice democratic move. Right. All parties involved in this should be taken out and flogged, but the Supreme Court refused to turn back a controversial - and probably unconstitutional - congressional remapping that Texas Republicans pushed through because they basically just didn't like the old one. That's right, if you can't get elected president, call the Supreme Court and bypass the election. If you don't like your elected governor, remove him. If you can't stack a state legislature, rig it. Anyone sensing a pattern of behavior here?

I seriously am working on updated pages. Even have a database-driven image viewer that I'm still tweaking. However, its going to wait a bit as I have a 6 day contract that I'll be at from 11-12 hours a day. Seriously, you will have new content soon.

First we have a girl who was already told once to change jobs for her school work study. So she gets a job hosting at Hooters. She doesn't wear a skimpy outfit and her father is okay with her being there. Now she has found that she won't get credit for it, thanks to her school board. And don't ever get me started on my opinion of most school boards.

Next, we have a second grader busted for saying "hell." Read the article and you'll see she was trying to do the right thing. These are the lessons we teach our kids today. Do what we say. WAIT! That's all wrong, you're going to be punished.

Its not all bad news in education though. In Georgia, you can still say the word "evolution" in school without being labelled a crackpot, liberal idealist. Well, they'll still label you, but you can say the word. Reactionary, Dark Ages freaks. That's a joke, mind.

Before it gets archived, you can read the article, "Ten Technologies That Refused to Die" and nod your head through it much like I did.

And if you happen to have a bar code/magnetic strip on your driver's license, head here to find out what personal information is on it. I'd be really interested to know what's on your's. Not the data itself silly, just what kind.

Updated some stuff on the Galva Guard page. Still need to scan those Galva News articles though.

I haven't done a Boondocks in awhile. I think its time.

After yesterday's wealth of bad news and worse ideas, I decided to follow up with as much light info as possible.

ESPN has a story on the Ali v. Ali commercial that I hope you've had a chance to see. If only more advertisers (Budweiser, Quiznos - are you listening?) had the concept of inspiring and respecting their viewers was the positive way to go. Even so, this is a nice piece of work for a short ad from a shoe company.

This story is about the Top 10 Strangest toys. Some are truly disturbing.

Here we have an example of where the problems lie in: a) the name of your town, b) the motto used to celebrate the town, and c) prudes with their minds in the gutter.

They say the old ways are sometimes the best. When it comes to medicine, let's just hope I'm unconscious if this ever becomes a part of my treatment regimen.

I don't know if you visit Yahoo, but their main page was advertising their dating service and had this ridiculous picture of a girl named Erin. This was pretty much standard for the past few weeks. Something Awful had a couple entries for budding young artists with too much time and Photoshop to put in their own creations on this theme. Before I link them: these are for the most part offensive, as are most of the ads and links on the site. I don't condone most of them and many are of obscure cultural references. Do NOT go if you don't want to see off-color humor. Do NOT blame me if you go and are offended. You were warned. If you are still going, the galleries are here and here.

I have one political story, but its the most level-headed one I think I've posted all year. Remember Sen. Bob Kerrey? Ran for president a few years back? I was pulling for him but it never came to pass. Anyway, he has written an editorial for the Boston Globe attempting to get past the whole debate over Kerry and Bush's Vietnam records. I think, whichever side of this you are on, you should take a look at it.

Two stories about people too wrapped up in themselves to see the bigger picture. The first is from neighboring Utah where an expectant mother let one of her twins die because she didn't want the scars that would result from a Caesarean procedure she was repeatedly asked to accept. The second is another from our pals in the federal government. Instead of just trying to profit from the dead via re-election ads like his boss, Donald Rumsfeld actually has pieces of debris he has collected from 9-11. And apparently he loves to show it off. Just slightly less morbid than the Bitch of Buchenwald, but not by much.

John Kerry's website now has a special portion called DBunker, where they plan on dissecting and refuting any and all GOP attacks on the candidate. I found it to be useful but somewhat dry, so I'm sticking to Doonesbury for political information.

Leslie and I found the time to head to the north side of town for a Multicultural Festival at CCSN-Cheyenne campus. That's Cheyenne street; its not like we took off to Wyoming for the afternoon. We missed the food but caught the last couple hours of the dancing and such and had a lot of fun. So yes, there is culture to be had in our town.

Work continues to increase in intensity, but I managed to pass an internal program certification test so I didn't forget everything after 4 years and managed to pick up some new stuff so that's good news. Leslie, of course, still works too hard for her ungrateful staff members.

So, I'm on page 10 of Had Enough?, James Carville's new book and I figured I might as well recommend it to you already.

We'll start off with the political stuff and move in to the fun stuff later, okay? Slate has a couple articles dealing with Bush's attack ads and his continued screeching that anyone against him is against the United States. There's also another one on how the truth doesn't seem to matter to the current White House and one on the cancer that is Karl Rove.

Here's a story on how the government is attempting to kill our First Amendment. Yes, the Janet Jackson thing was out of line. But tell me how you plan on silencing Howard Stern discussing sex (which is a natural thing, right?) and then let the Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh types preach slander and hate without any repercussions. It just doesn't seem fair to me.

Martha Stewart's daughter says prison will be bad for her mom and she shouldn't have to go. I say, "Great!" It should be as awful for her as it is any convicted liar and thief.

I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier, but I love the new Nike ad where sport stars are playing sports we don't expect to see them playing. Here's a story on it and a link to the ad if you haven't seen it.

What else? Oh yeah, this should probably make your day if you've ever dealt with a city government.

How's your pool? No, not swimming. College basketball. Mine is fairly okay but that Michigan State loss kind of messes me up. In any case, here's a story on the history of the terms involved with March Madness.

Don't have too much to pass along really. The news has been really depressing to be quite honest and I'm sure most of you are aware of that.

Here's a student who is long overdue for his class.

Oh, and all that crap about file-sharing causing a decline in music sales? A lie. Its all about the lousy songs if anything. Not that this is the first time anyone has said that.

Hmm, what else? Oh, a pattern of behavior from the Bush administration. Funny how they are always right and everyone else is either: a) evil, b) a "flip-flopper", or c) unpatriotic. When I was a kid, irrational behavior like that usually got my backside tanned. For good reason I might add.

Further describing our leadership with the business model of a spoiled four year old, I have collected a series of Boondocks cartoons that made me chuckle recently.

Finally, this cover from The Economist is a few weeks old, but still is a pretty good concept for elections in the next few years; or so I think.

Ten points for anyone who knows that reference.

So, I just got done watching the WB News while vacuuming. Yes, the WB has news, go figure. And yes, I vacuum. Anyway, one story I wasn't paying attention to today was this misdirection about Kerry throwing medals or ribbons of medals away during the 70s. Apparently - and this is the height of political pandering - the GOP is trying to convince people that ribbons and medals are not the same thing.

In some cases they are correct. Ribbons by themselves do not always come with medals. However, every medal (as I understand these things) comes with a ribbon so that the person who earned it (yes, you EARN medals; not get them from hiding in an secret undisclosed location) can wear them on the "fruit salad" you see folks wear on dress uniforms. What does this mean? Kerry isn't "flip-flopping" on this one, but the Republicans are still lying and treating us like idiots.

In the interests of getting people to shut up about this and talk about serious issues - like, say, why my brother and 130,000 of his closest comrades-in-arms are getting shot at in Iraq - here is a site related to Navy medals (and ribbons) and one concerning where your favorite GOP dolts were while they should have at least paid lip service to serving their country (you'll have to scroll down a bit because - as is usual - they are hiding the truth).

Doonesbury got in a nice dig Sunday that requires more reflection than your usual comic strip offers. Enjoy.

"You know, back in 2000, a Republican friend of mine warned me that if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we'd lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what: I did vote for Al Gore, he did win, and I'll be damned if all those things didn't come true."

- James Carville

As you may have noticed, I changed the top quote because, well, you are never going to find a more candid explanation of why George Bush does what he does to us. The Carville quote will hereafter reside on the Archives page.

A special shout-out to Mooney for actually reading the random posts and for pointing me to America Coming Together. These are the guys who helped bring that Will Ferrell ad you may have heard of, and are sponsoring the Vote for Change tour, which is frankly good music working for a good cause. No Vegas dates yet, but it isn't like I've got the time right now anyway.

Kerry is coming to town tomorrow and I'll try to get home in time to catch that (seeing as he'll basically be next door at the Thomas & Mack Center). Bush is coming on Thursday, but he'll likely be spending time ducking questions concerning how Homeland Security "forgot" to warn Las Vegas that terrorists were casing our casinos. Refer back to the top quote. It starts making sense, no?

From the "That's no moon" Department comes Matok from the FES gaming club with this link. Yes, I'm an insufferable Star Wars fan and have even joined a club (which teams up with the FES sometimes) about four years back. Email me for more info - or just to point and laugh I guess.

Good lord we have a lot to cover. Let's keep it fun, shall we? We have Official British Jesters, German driving penalties, safe women drivers (no, I didn't stutter), overtime - the hard way, and our Olympic athletes - the hard way. Bad pun, I apologize.

The War on Terror takes a smile off the faces of travelling Britons and the election campaign makes Bush feed at the trough (thanks to Mooney for the link).

Our society took a few steps back with California leading the charge with inaccurate high school education materials; though, granted, it's not the state's fault. Texas follows with a story we touched on earlier. Instead of dealing with a racial slur, they chose to ignore the entire situation. Smart move, given the "sensitivity" usually shown about such things.

Wouldn't be right to not cover Slate articles cover the Bush as a preacher angle and the backlash of the rich and less fascist when it comes to those famous tax cuts. Gary Trudeau has joined in via the pages of Rolling Stone and through his comic, Doonesbury:

With rumors of massive protests at the upcoming GOP convention, the Republican party has pretty much gone with the playbook and declared anyone who would deign to disagree with Bush as a traitor. According to GOP fascist-pig-in-chief Ed Gillespie, "The line between the official Democratic Party and labor protesters, environmental protesters and antiwar protesters is fairly blurry, and I'm not sure they want to have Democrats engaging in violence in New York against our convention. It would seem disrespectful and antidemocratic." (Emphasis mine.) Excuse me, but killing a thousand soldiers based on innuendo and outright lying to the American people is "disrespectful and antidemocratic." A protest is a constitutionally protected response to bad government. Or did Ashcroft do away with that right too?

The story that irritated me so referred in the previous paragraph is in the New York Times (use refuse and registration as your user name/password).

Then there are the Swift Boat Vets. No matter what the truth is of Kerry's medals - other than they usually don't give out Silver Stars like candy, here we have a bunch of guys who will lie and collude with Bush party officials to try to stop a guy from becoming president who was actually in a combat zone. Bush, meanwhile, can't even be accounted for over a period of months and managed to bail out of his service. Pretty damn weird if you ask me.

And oops, there appear to be ties (image) between the campaign and this group. Not to mention a staffer working both sides. And more vets now are coming out against these guys who can't even keep a story straight, much less have any proof.

The point is, I guess, if this is all the Bush campaign has to argue for the guy to win the election, then seriously, why vote for him at all?

Apparently we are on the lookout for large, alcoholic, Irish-descended, Democratic senators who may potentially have joined Al-Qaeda. At least, that's the DHS' argument for putting Ted Kennedy on the No-Fly list. But wait, he's not the only Democrat on the list. Funny, I always thought Orrin Hatch was more of a threat to our civilization.

My respect for Tony Blair just went up a notch as he refuses to accept a medal from Bush while troops are still in Iraq (read: Mission NOT Accomplished) and for basically not meddling with our democratic process. This has been an ongoing issue between the White House and #10 Downing. Thanks PM!

Here's a weird political report about the advantage of having your name first on a ballot.

Alright, I've been watching the Olympics pretty regularly. It helped that I was out of town and had nothing to do most nights, but still I'd have caught a lot of it. Two major subplots beyond what the press has covered (Michael Phelps, et al).

One, our basketball team sucks. Period. And why the heck are they on a luxury cruise ship when their pathetic butts should be cleaning the toilets of the actual atheletes in Athens? Plus, nobody likes them. I'm all for pulling for the home team; but these clowns are only a sign of what's wrong with our pro league.

Two, and this is way out on a tangent. But in watching women's gymnastics I heard mention that Svetlana Khorkina of Russia is supposedly a model. Now come on. She looks like a giraffe that's been depilated and then fed alum. Plus, she can't even lose graciously. Not even the judges are immune from her fantasy world.

If you haven't been watching, shame on you. Aside from my nitpicking, I've watched some damn fast swimming and some excellent soccer (luckily, where I stayed last week had Telemundo).

I had more stuff to point out, but want to end on a fun note. Here are recent stories on animals and the harm we cause each other. First, we'll start off with dire news that badgers are destroying Stonehenge. Yes, the English do not need those stinking badgers.

Take a moment to recover from that horrible pun and read the following tales of a rabbit and a bear. Plus a variation on the dog ate my homework trick. Thanks to Mooney on the bear story.

The news from Iraq is filled with stories of the members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company which refused to deliver a fuel run to Taji, where elements of the 39th Infantry Brigade (of which Battery F 1/202 ADA is attached) are headquartered. These troops, regardless of the possible correct assessment of their lack of safety, are more likely than not in serious trouble. I'm not sure which is worse; the perception by some of our troops that we are not doing well by them enough that they mutiny, or the slap in the face of every American that an administration that says "all is well and morale is high" is so obviously not addressing reality.

With the oncoming departure of the oft-referenced Polish troops in Iraq, the administration has come under more scrutiny by newspaper columnists and Ron Reagan among others.

(By the way, I plan on listing some of the logins used by certain newspapers I link, but I want to re-encourage you to download Mozilla or Firebird browsers and use the BugMeNot service and extension to gain access to information.)

Remember when Bush was slamming the Canadian health system in the debates? Turns out one Canadian company could help us with the flu vaccine shortage - if our government wasn't so eager to screw up the deal in red tape. Then again, some morally deficient creeps are already trying to sneak into Canada to obtain flu shots for themselves. Bet they vote Republican too. Thanks to Matok for the links.

The local press here in Vegas has been addressing instances of pro-GOP bias (I mean, besides the local paper, though even the Review-Journal has been reporting on it). Luckily, our weekly alternative papers do a better job and have things well in hand. Back in August I saw, reported, and watched a guy get removed from a public library because he was openly registering voters for just the Republican party. Apparently he had hoodwinked the library into thinking he was doing a legal registration drive. According to the Mercury and the R-J, he was definitely not working alone. The R-J even did us the courtesy of writing a story on Secretary of State Dan Heller, Nevada's Katherine Harris. The Mercury and CityLife have stinging indictments of the Bush reign while Joshua Ellis just lays it out as he sees it.

I had planned to vent a frustration here but opted to take it to the message board instead for any discussion that might be felt necessary. Also, I didn't want to start up a storm in the midst of so much real news...unlike some people. Head on over and read the rant if you are interested.

I see a lot of hope amongst those I speak to. I spent the day in a car full of Republicans who either voted for Kerry or not at all. Why? They can't trust Bush with our nation's future. That, and they fear another four years of his rule will threaten the rights of women and non-Christians. All valid points. So they are hoping for a better tomorrow, one with Bush permanently back at the ranch.

Results from the GlobalVote project. Quick results: Kerry 77.1%, Bush 9.0%. If only....

EvilNed chimes in with one last political link (offensive language warning) that you should probably read. Links to the quoted Eminem video and lyrics which I think that, regardless of your outlook on rap music, you should take a look at.

Latinos polling very, very high for Kerry, proving that mangling Spanish and English is a bad strategy. Kerry might also mean cheaper oil prices (sweet irony there). 100 facts and 1 opinion not to vote for Bush. Republicans see voter fraud everywhere, usually because they are actively behind it. Problems reported in Florida, Michigan and Ohio (no links for all, just flipping through the news for the most part) as the GOP fights against the momentum of those fed up with their crap. While FOXNews attempts to slander Kerry some more, a report on Republicans who rightfully fear Bush. And one last story concerning how the administration sent our troops to Iraq ill-prepared and ill-supplied.

Go vote.

Kerry saw the popular vote not going his way and instead of getting into a situation where non-elected curmudgeons decided an election again, he choose to conceed the race. Both he and Edwards gracefully and with dignity ended the race, stepping out of the way so the nation could throw itself in front of a bus without impedence. I don't have to like the results of the race, but I can approve of the class acts these two have been.

If you were planning of hightailing out of the Theocracy of America, Canada doesn't want us.

What's more, there is a lot of call for reform in the Democratic Party. Which, given the election results, couldn't hurt. I'd start with the text of John Edward's lead-in speech today and the still-relevant parts of James Carville's "Had Enough?". And, strange though it may seem, Howard Dean of all people sent his supporters the small-but-accurate silver lining in this whole debacle.

Basically, I've gotten mail from Republicans gloating and one choice piece of crap wishing my brother dead in Iraq to "set me straight" for not backing Bush. And I've already told you of how these hateful types scared my mother into a choice she wasn't willing to make. Compassionate conservatives my butt.

Granted, there are Republicans who aren't racists, suppressors of civil liberties, cowards, and doctors who sterilize women against their will (OK's new senator). Some are concerned about their hunting rifles, environmental conservation, and fiscal responsibilty with restrictions on how far the government's reach should go. You know what? It's time for them to take their party back too. There's a lot of talk on how the administration is going to reach out to those who voted against it. I haven't seen that for four years, I doubt I'll be holding my breath waiting for it now. If you voted for Bush, make sure he keeps his word to you. If you voted for Kerry or someone else, do what you can to keep your chin up and work to not just stand by and let things get worse. Hope you guys don't live to regret your smug grins.

On the lighter side, two views from The Onion, a satirical one about the election and one "shades of the future" one courtesy of Leslie.

A special thank you to all those veterans out there who put in their tours. I know this country is divided on a lot of things, but honoring those who put on the uniform should not be one of those. And for those vets-in-the-making in Iraq, good hunting and get home safe and sound as soon as you can.

I have been fortunate enough to be assigned for the week on the west coast. Specifically, I have a nice wireless connection in a hotel on the beach just north of the California state line in Brookings, Oregon. Granted, my share of work load this week was slightly heavy, but I was able to take the time to update the long-unattended articles page on the Galva Guard section. Just a reminder that I haven't seen a lot of traffic for Tom and Lucas' photos I uploaded awhile back. And if you are truly bored, start something up on the message board.

I'll be back home tomorrow where I don't fall asleep to a cool breeze brought in by soothing crashing waves with a patio door open to an ocean view. Yeah, I'm rubbing it in. I'm also going to miss it.

Wait, I have to start with this quote first:

"I'm going to find somebody who knows something about intelligence.... and capable and honest and ready to do the job." - George W. Bush

We already tried that, but you rigged the election and scared the hell out of the country so you could "win" it.

Seriously, that made my day. Gomer.

Oh, have ten, um nine, new GMail addresses to pass out. Pop me an email if you want one.

Now, for the fun. Krista, my sister-in-law, sent this link along for you to deal with your holiday stress. Frankly, I think its worth a permanent bookmark. ShellyBean sent this snowman creation thing along, and yes, you are warned. She also sent this, which, while not seasonal, is still damn fun. And Leslie was asking the other day the question you all have on your minds: "Whatever happened to the Elf Bowling?" I found out. Enjoy.

This article asks, "why does Asia get all the cool gadgets?" Great question. A New York Times article on Firefox. A. Get Firefox. B. You do have that NYTimes login and password, right? If not, I'll post something concerning the default ones I've created.

We managed to achieve something Saddam Hussein never could in Iraq: we've crushed Christmas and turned it into a secret celebration. Lovely. More good news from your compassionate conservatives. And hey, thanks in part to their catering to billionaires, it is impossible for Americans to provide housing for their families on the minimum wage. Now THAT'S family values.

Speaking of values - or the lack thereof - this guy is waiting for the moralists to complain about the lack of ethics among Republicans. He'll be there awhile I imagine. A conservative minister as freaked about these guys as the rest of us. The case of art vs. the book burner types in the GOP. And the English ask a great question, namely why do we worry more about creating democracy in Iraq than in preserving it here in the West?

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

- Theodore Roosevelt, on criticizing President Wilson during WWI - May 7th, 1918 - Kansas City Star

For some fool reason, we have plans to go to the Strip tonight. Us, and 300,000+ tourists. We're dumb.

This year ends on a mixed note. We have an administration slow, if ever, to respond to human tragedy. This must be based on the conservative view that the poor and downtrodden somehow deserve their fates and that the wealthy need not assist them. In any case, our contribution to the tsunami relief is up to $350 million due to the pressures of the world against our vacationing leader. Dramatic scenes of the devastation to the land there available here.

Other failures. Missile defense is still a sham. Violence in Iraq escalates. The fight to screw the American people on Social Security, tax "reform", and various civil rights will continue into next year.

With all that, let's hope for a better year nonetheless. To all those in danger across the world, our thoughts are with you. To the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, keep your heads down and come home soon. To those here at home, wherever that may be, Happy New Year and best wishes for a better tomorrow.

And Brenda and Brent, have a great wedding day from the both of us.

Hey, I finally figured out why you couldn't post comments. I didn't have it configured right. Sorry. I do hope you use the option though. Thanks to those of you who pointed out my oversight.

Let's start off with some financial news. Looks like we can afford tax cuts for billionaires, but unfortunately we can't provide medical care to our military veterans. it's all about priorities I guess and you should know what Bush's are by now.

This of course is the same White House that refuses to hand over documents and transcripts detailing how it fumbled the Katrina disaster. Figures. You know, not admitting you're wrong when everyone knows it is not leadership or courage, it's being a frigging imbecile. Not that we don't know that about the drunk in chief either.

You want to know what's wrong with Kansas and other red states? Well, look no further than this therapist who enslaved his patients. Yeah, good job doc.

Kobe Bryant scored 81 points last week and now has a < a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-lakers-bryant&prov=ap&type=lgns" target="_blank">nickname of 81. Granted, that's not very creative, but I'm sure he likes it a lot more than his old nickname, Rapist.

The top US general in Iraq agrees that our forces are stretched thin, but there's nothing he can do about it. Which is nice to hear him at least admit it, even though Bush, Rumsfeld, et al refuse to believe it. Then again, they live in a fantasy world.

West Virginia has decided to combat obesity by making their students play Dance Dance Revolution. Now, I know I rip on West Virginia and basically much of the South for their wild ideas, but I think this one is potentially crazy enough to work.

It turns out you can play a twisted form of Monopoly called "Patriot Act: The Home Version." You can download and print the game board and cards here. Be warned though; you aren't actually supposed to win.

Speaking of games, I've been watching a lot of the World Baseball Classic - yes, I know it's March Madness time but, a) baseball is my favorite sport, and b) you obviously haven't seen how shredded my bracket is right now. As our still-presumed national pasttime, you will be surprised that the US team was spanked by Mexico the other day and didn't even make the semi-finals. Japan did through some odd combination of math and proceeded to tear Korea a new one after losing to them twice in the tournament.

My point here, besides being able to watch good baseball earlier than I'm used to this year, is that this has been a blast, but not one for the US. So, why do we keep doing it? By "it" I mean, why do we send a team of superstar home run hitters and expect them to play small ball against the world's best? Why do we send spoiled brat shooting guards who can't play a team game to the Olympics and get our asses handed to us by legitimate, respectable, and talented TEAMS? Can we back off this rugged individualism crap just enough to actually show the world our best?

I blame idiots like Bush really. Not that he's the cause, but he's the effect of this "I" philosophy we all drink at the trough of. Sometimes you need friends, teammates, and - dare I say? - actually allies instead of a "coalition" of brutal dictators and the British. Too bad we don't subscribe to that philosophy anymore. Which is probably why on Monday, Japan, with only two MLB players, goes for the championship against Cuba, which have none of course.

I love my baseball, but boy do we Americans have a lot to learn about sports - and life.

So, been going through updating the desktop, laptop, Linux box/soon-to-be server, and sorting my various flash drives. Figured I'd pass on some software links and some links that have cropped up.

First off, a wallpaper generator called Desktop Earth courtesy of a link from Tsume. I'm gonna try it out on the work laptop for kicks.

Next, like I mentioned, I was sorting some stuff on my travelling flash drives and decided I really like Firefox enough to have it on the road with me. I knew of the USB version of the app, but also have found they have NVU and OpenOffice app support as well. Consider a small chunk of my 1GB stick taken by stuff from Portable Apps.

I've been reading about this presumed Web 2.0 stuff. A lot of it seems like marketing hooey, and it probably is, but I'll try some stuff out and see if any of it is applicable to the site. I know I have a project for a Google Maps-like interface, and I probably need to be able to upload pictures without the pain of doing it like I have been (thus, no pictures lately). I'll let you know if any of these mad scientist projects bear fruit for me.

And now, to something I hope gets a little comment interest from all of you. I've been watching more than my usual share of TV lately and I've found that I really loathe some of the people on my screen. Actually, it's commercial people mostly.

So, here's my current list of people I'd like to pimp slap, in current order of annoyance:

1. The Taco Bell "good to go" imbecile

2. The Verizon Guy

3. Jared from Subway

4. Debbie from Sprint

5. The Burger King

I know you have others. Pop in a comment and let me know.

We saw V for Vendetta last night. While I enjoyed the heck out of it, I gotta say some of the minor character subplots held more interest. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's odd to find a movie anymore where you flesh out your main characters with the experiences of others anymore. Guess we're just used to the crap Hollywood spews out normally. In any case, as you might imagine, the movie has many similarities with the rise of a certain band of pseudo-Christo-fascists you may have heard me ranting about.

Oh, let's see what our real-life villians are up to. Barbara Bush, after insulting Katrina victims to their faces, is now giving some aid to them. Oh wait, she's not. Sh