Fine, okay, it's a blog already!

Well, I'm probably gonna have to post a special rant on the Message Board to even cover all the stuff we have run into over the past week. Concerning the page title, that's a whole long story. As for this entry title, absolutely avoid the McDonalds in Colby, KS if you value your digestive tract.

We did manage to have a good time and meet interesting people and travel to some really fun places. It is just the horrifically stupid imbeciles we dealt with along the way that I am now taking to time to laugh at...now that its over. Point yourself over to the Rant section of the message board if you want to know more about our adventures.

For your entertainment value, an odd page about the sounds you see in comic strips. Also, a link to the most demented system technicians alive (I forgot to link it before we left).

Well, we are packing up our stuff and and progressively realizing that we have a lot of it.

As for today's title, some county deputies popped into my building last week to serve me a subpeona about a case I very, VERY marginally was involved in a couple years back. Basically, as is an ongoing thread at this university, the occasional odd professor here likes to use lots of bandwidth to download his smut. Yes, I have probably created some liability by saying that and also violated the "Oklahoma Loyalty Oath" they made me sign before starting to work here. Yes, I'm miffed about this too.

Thus far, the district attorney's office does not seem to care that my input is horribly minimal or that I will be moving soon.

Tomorrow, we attempt to call someone with authority at the Shilo Institute for Customer Disservice. We sent a letter last week. Hopefully the gal we wrote will be the first decent managerial type we've dealt with thus far.

Okay, this is where good taste and morality get tossed out the window like stank mop bucket water. I link this monstrosity to just emphasize the dark side of gaming development. I do not condone it or even presume to know what the hell these morons were thinking. I will, however, also link you to an online petition to hopefully appeal to whatever shred of common decency these guys have left. Thanks to Dave from the FES gaming group for the heads-up on this.

So, I read this article about a woman who is forcing her belief system on others so much that it is now going to cost some charities a LOT of money. AND SHE'S NOT DONE! People, convince others to change their minds through dialogue, not by twisting their arms in fascist fashion.

In other news, Galva seems to remain in the dark but folks seem to be okay. Brenda says their house got a little roughed up, but so did a lot of others.

So, I'm trolling through the job ads this morning and then bounce over to CNN to check on the news (yes, that IS entertainment for me). Anyways, our unofficial government news agency FoxNews is suing Al Franken because they don't like the title of his book - nor likely the content of it either. Just goes to show how whiny people get when you give 'em a little power.

Some of you may have come across that nasty MSBlaster/LoveSan worm. Hopefully you do not have it on your computer, but if you do, come on back after your computer reboots.

You back yet? Okay, take a visit over to this link, which will give you directions on where to get your relevant Windows updates. I will give you to quick links to McAfee and Norton's advice as well. Good luck out there.

Yes, its another episode of really stupid people and ideas.

Here's the one toy NO kid wants for Christmas; doesn't mean their parents won't try to get it for them. I'm going to just gloss over the fact that the only reason this guy knows how to fly a plane was because he was avoiding active military duty during Vietnam. Let's just focus on the ridiculous notion that piloting a plane in the air over a totally clear sky does NOT make you a hero or worthy of an action figure. How about we go the REALLY morose route of making action figures for each of the guys dying for the war he gleefully pursued? Would that be enough to fill someone's incessant need to make a profit off of this? The worst part? Its on back order. Idiots.

Another potentially racist moron in Texas. No, I'm not picking on them; the news just reports it.

Oh yeah, you can call them French fries again.

Now, interesting stuff:

Popular Science put out an article about the worst jobs in science. Via Slashdot, I learned of a story concerning the history of Murphy's Law. Its pretty interesting. Also, I will link you to Unwise Microwave Oven Experiments if you promise to just read the article and not actually try any of the mentioned items.

Okay, I've held my tongue for awhile but seriously, what is up with California? They give a standing ovation to a child molestor (Roman Polanski earlier this year at the Oscars), elect some serial woman molestor (Schwarzenegger of course), and then stand up and applaud a suspected rapist (Kobe Bryant) like he's a victim or something. Now to be quite fair, maybe he isn't a rapist, but he still cheated on his wife and that shouldn't be applauded.

In happier news, bubble gum is now 75 years old. The alternate World Series ended on a strange note. The results of the World Rock, Paper, Scissors Championships are in (yes, there is such a thing and they have a website).

On the strange end of things: why are we trying to sell money through TV ads?

On the "yeah, I want one, but only if no one else does" category, a story about a gadget you can get that changes streetlights.

*Sigh* Where do these people come from?

In Utah, Burger King has been forced to apologize to a mother who breastfed her child in a restaurant. Yes, it is entirely legal to do so in that state.

No matter what your stance is on gays, you've got to consider that putting up a statue commemorating Matthew Shepard's death is pretty deplorable. Especially in his hometown. Especially when it pretty much laughs and says he went to hell. Especially when a reverand is behind it all. You can read about this pathetic miscreant imbecile and his sick plans here.

Evil Ned points us to a bit of revisionist history at Time magazine. I've taken the liberty of using the Wayback Machine to verify the story (this is what I came up with).

Jessica Lynch suddenly realizes that she has been used by the government (curiously after her book came out). Go figure. I've heard enough rips on this gal from my brother to feel that I am unworthy of speaking out about how much a disservice this whole thing has been to her, us, and - more importantly - every other soldier that was captured, injured, or killed in Iraq.

Maybe we're all working (or trying to find work) in the wrong fields. CBS has a story about the 10 most overpaid jobs in the US.

In a moment of curiosity, I strolled over to FoxNews and found this little tidbit. To some, hiring a guy from an organization famous for things like Ruby Ridge and Waco is just the right thing to do in order to scare off all the 12-year old girls and old ladies who supposedly are the software pirates destroying our society. I don't know about you, but the last thing I want to see is RIAA assualt teams breaking into little 10-year old Jimmy's room because he wanted to get a song from his favorite artist.

Another genius is suing to teach his daughter about the joys of polygamy. Okay, let's work this through. LDS members who want to be polygamists are not actual Mormons. People who kill abortion doctors are not Christians. Al Qaeda members are not Muslims. You are all freaks and need to leave our planet. Are we all clear on this now?

Our troops are trying out some new strategies in Iraq. Let's hope this calms things down and gets some order in that country.

Its not all bad news. In Seattle, you can expect to find your cabbie dressed as an Elvis impersonator, among other things. Slate is carrying a story about the guy who did all the background music for Looney Tunes. This year's total cost for the 12 Days of Christmas has been calculated. And here is a site about a guy who loves New York and Lego sets. And he loves them a lot.

You may remember earlier this year when I pointed out that KB Toys was planning on selling George Bush actions figures. Well, there's apparently a "Top Gun" version too, amongst others. And to make it even worse, psychopathic hate monger Ann Coulter has her own doll. It apparently says some of the same demonic crap Linda Blair said in The Exorcist.

Speaking of clueless people, Saudi Arabia wants the world to pay OPEC subsidies should we ever stop using fossil fuels. Wait a minute...I already have a problem giving money to fundamentalist suicide bombers? You want me to do it on purpose?

How's this for unfair? Employees at an auto supplier actually got taxed for their holiday bonus. Pathetic.

Speaking of pathetic, some morons decided to coin a phrase called "killographic" to explain violent video games.

Finally, I don't know what's worse: the story comparing us all to Paris Hilton or the one that says we are all nerds. Read, then decide for yourself.

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.

In following with yesterday's story about Hindus planning to beat people up who commemorate Valentine's Day, this story is a similar announcement for Muslims to ignore the holiday as well. Since when did expressing warm feelings become a call to trample over other societies? Wait, it hasn't. They're just paranoid.

In what is a more appropriate way to express your religion, there is a story about NASCAR and how it has had to deal with religious expression in their sport. I think they've done a decent job of it overall. Too bad its all going to get politicized starting this weekend.

Here's hoping that - at the least - this idiot gets a nice lifetime sentence at Ft. Leavenworth. Personally, I'm all for finding him guilty and finding the nearest tree, but that's just me.

Speaking of military issues, I was ignoring this whole Bush and the Air Guard thing, but then he started making it an attack on the Guard itself, not his possible dereliction of duty. That's just wrong. When you are being accused of something, be man (or woman) enough to take the heat without putting someone else in the cross-hairs. I figure most of you have enough moral fiber to understand that position. That's why our parents should be proud of us. That said, Slate has a take on the whole issue.

I find it strange that I am reading Andrew Sullivan and actually agree with some of his posts lately. It would be nice to think that after this election is over, we can stop bickering long enough to work on the problems we all agree on. Dare to dream

Just got done watching the Academy Awards - to be honest, Leslie watched and I occasionally popped in because I have zero attention span for long thank you speeches - and have a few comments. One, the Lord of the Rings trilogy earned everything they got and kudos for them. Anything Lost in Translation earned was also well deserved. Now to my major gripe of the night.

Sean Penn? The same guy who was married to and made movies with Madonna? (Sidenote: being in a movie with Madonna should hereby ban you from ever receiving an award for anything) The same guy who has gone to Iraq twice just to badmouth our country and troops? Examples here and here; a sample of criticism here and here. In any case, I am in agreement with a lot more vehement people that this guy is a symbol of how entertainers mistake their job for activism. As much as I am against our original reason to go into Iraq, we have troops on the ground there and I would never go to a foreign land and criticize my country and its armed forces in such a manner. He won the Oscar for political reasons alone I surmise. Having thoroughly enjoyed Bill Murray and Johnny Depp's roles (Depp at least has attempted to apologize for his verbal errors) and always knowing Ben Kingsley to do a fantastic job, there were far more talented and deserving recipients of the best actor award.

In any case, one thing I really enjoyed was the "Tigershack" American Express commercial. If you haven't caught it, here is a writeup and here is the commercial itself.

We went out to the movies the other night and saw Miracle. I have to tell you, that was one heck of a fun, optimistic, inspirational movie. I wholeheartedly recommend you go watch it. Now, I have to tell you, maybe its the anti-Semitism it is spawning or the rude, condescending, holier-than-thou crowds we ran into and probably some of the horrible press its bringing up, but I really think we saw a more positive movie than everyone standing and waiting to watch Passion of the Christ. Seriously, isn't religion supposed to be a positive experience of overcoming the wretchedness and filth in the world and not a paean to masochistic whipping scenes? Granted, I have not seen the movie but, if one of you has, could you pass along a more glowing review? Just so I can get another perspective.

Apparently people still fear their bodies. In Crawford, TX the local cave-dwellers have decided to yank their daughters out of the Girl Scouts because of that horrible social blight - education. Hi, welcome to the twenty-first century. Leave your baggage at the door please.

As McDonalds prepares to phase out super-sizing, Slate offers a story on how darn near everything has gotten bigger over the past few years.

Our slightly more paranoid citizens have websites too. Sometimes they come across an actual thing to be concerned about. Apparently the government is keeping track of where our dollars go. Our $20 bills to be specific. And no, this isn't just a John Ashcroft fantasy come true. Our pals in Europe have loaded up their Euros with tracking devices as well. (Note: I know the rest of both sites are beyond outlandish; its better just to stick to the individual stories.)

I like to let you know on occasion that while Martha Stewart is probably going to get away with insider trading, sometimes the legal gurus get it right. Case in point: this jerk is spending 30 months in federal prison for redirecting kids to porn sites.

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.

Seriously, what is wrong with this country? We've got the FCC fining radio personalities left and right for being controversial, but leaving Oprah alone when she discusses the same thing. I mean, if you are going to let Limbaugh preach hate and get away with it, why not let people like Howard Stern talk about sex if 15 million people want to listen to it? I'm not saying everyone approves of such behavior, but when did we elect the morality police and where do they get off selectively judging people?

To top that off, Doonesbury has been running a rather timely and disturbing storyline, which starts here. Today's entry has been considered "obscene" and has been censored or banned by various papers. Idiots.

The New World Order teaches children early that the FBI will bust into your life at any moment. And bonus, its all in the service of a bunch of corporate fiends.

Here's a ray of hope though: some churches actually realize that Bush is destroying our planet and have enough backbone to say something about it. Good for them. He may think he's a Christian, but does a real awful impression of one with that whole greed, warmongering, destruction, close-mindedness and lying routine. He was probably more likeable as a cocaine addict.

I'm not an blind-to-reality-ultra-patriot, but this is beyond stupid even to me. Someone kindly flog these people please.

I figure, if a bunch of punks who did everything they could to avoid military service in Vietnam question whether a guy who went and served two tours deserved his medals, the entirely appropriate response would be to knee-cap the slimy low lifes. John Kerry merely handed over his military records. Talk about restraint.

This guy is a realist. When given the choice between a date with a cute young lady and a Playstation 2, he went for the game console.

The big news is about prisoner mistreatment in Iraq, as detailed here and in many, many other news venues. While I agree that surrendering troops need to be treated well and those responsible for abuses need to be probably court martialed, stripped of rank, and likely flogged themselves; let's take a step back here for a second. I find it ironic that many of the same regional news agencies screaming for blood on this issue were the same ones gleefully showing mobs killing, kicking, then hanging corpses from a bridge in Fallujah and presenting that as a good thing. Wrong is wrong and you need to show it all across the board. That goes for our media too.

By way of comparison , here's a prisoner I have little but contempt for. I figure any child abuser, much less one that sexually assaults children, has a very narrow scope in which they can appeal to society's feelings. Not even a crocodile tear for this situation.

This kid needs a medal or something. I don't even know what I'd do in that situation.

For comedic purposes only (hopefully): a look at the secret Bush campaign strategy. From Maxim, just so you know what you're getting into.

You want to know what's wrong with the legal system in this country? Read this guy's sad story.

ESPN has hired John Kruk to do an article for them, mostly focusing on baseball I presume. I was real skeptical going into this but he writes really well. Take a look at his latest comment and go back through his past couple articles as well.

The Bush clan has decided to not attend the graduations of the First Drinkers (Jenna and Barbara to the rest of ya) "in order to avoid disruptions for families of the other graduates." So wait a minute...we are going to let them get away with ignoring a chance to praise education and family values in an actual non-politicized setting on the premise of respecting families when there are 700+ families dealing with the deaths of their loved ones because W didn't give one iota of concern for them? That's straight hypocrisy folks. Vote accordingly.

Speaking of quality education, let's try to make sure these kinds of idiots are not allowed to develop our youth.

Not that I really give a damn what he thinks, but Michael Moore is being censored by Disney. I figure that every crackpot, be it morons like Limbaugh or not-quite-truthful propagandists like Moore, has a constitutional right to their opinions. Too bad corporations and our government feel differently.

Oh, continuing with fascist pigs, the RIAA types conveniently forgot how to find musicians like David Bowie and Dolly Parton to send them checks they earned. Maybe they were too busy suing grandmas. Happy Mother's Day. In other law and order type news, Oregon inmates get to have flat screen TVs in their cells. Seriously, isn't jail supposed to be punishment?

A few last notes concerning a miracle survival, a glimpse at Olympic concerns, and - via EvilNed - how to find a Singapore bathroom.

From the "Saying everything but what they want to hear" department, Bush went on Arab TV to acknowledge that, yes, some of our MPs are dirtbags, but he's not going to apologize, much less take responsibility, for any of that mess. For all his obvious faults, even Rumsfeld did that. Slate also covers how we are letting the president get away with being stupid.

You don't have to be intelligent to vote Democratic, but it obviously helps. Thanks to Raziel in the UK for bringing that to our attention. Hopefully intelligence will overcome bombast, false patriotism, and a culture of fear this fall.

Speaking of the current administration, GQ covers the sad, sorry fate of Colin Powell. You almost have to feel sorry for the guy, though he should have known what he was getting into.

So, we still make cars here right? After the news from Oldsmobile and Ford, I'm beginning to wonder.

On a vaguely current culture aspect, I picked up Smile Empty Soul's CD the other day and was struck by the lyrics of "This is War." If I get enough calls for it, I may even put up an .mp3 of it, though I doubt the RIAA would be very pleased if I did. Maybe I can get the band's permission.

I was at work unfortunately and missed it, but I wanted to point out that Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game today. One, its a damn hard thing to do. Two, especially at 40. Three, especially with these stats. You want to know why I like baseball above all other sports? Moments like these. Hopefully I can catch some SportsCenter action to see some highlights.

I just wanted to point out two idiots who continue to walk this world with no shame: JonBenet Ramsey's dad and Kobe Bryant. Seriously, somebody please slap some sense into these fools.

George Bush is apparently viewed as a "regular guy" by folks asked who they would rather have a barbecue with. Let's make a point here. Regular guys are not born into riches, go to two Ivy League schools, allowed to shirk military duty without punishment, and have the Supreme Court allow them to be president. Unless, that is, you consider clumsiness, the inability to speak the English language, and the means to buy your way to the presidency things regular guys do. Personally, I see that we have two elitists running for office; I'm just planning to vote for the one not trying to get my family killed.

Other morons. Kids who see vandalism as harmless fun. Also, look at the pic attached to this article and ask yourself if the First Amendment should give either of these clowns the right to be racist pigs. PUT THE SHEET ON YOU PORCINE VIOLATION!

Genius idiot of the week: Donald Rumsfeld, in trying to recover from the prisoner abuse debacle, has banned the use of camera phones amongst our armed forces. Yeah, let's not try to fix the problem; just hide the evidence.

In a related vein, I continue to hear from people who do not want to even acknowledge that some of our troops are fools who could actually sink to such wretched levels. They too just want to pretend and make it go away. Look, the quicker we accept responsibility for the situation and punish those at fault, the less the rest of our troops over there are in danger from those who would otherwise stand on the sidelines. It's called personal responsibility. Take the blame, fix the problem. Try it sometime. For those GOP members, I suggest starting November at your local polling place if not before. I mean, its not like the current resident of the Oval Office is ever going to admit a mistake.

Slate tackles the whole price of gas issue and raises some serious points. One being the fact that we are nominally an OPEC member right now so why not use that to our advantage? Another article addresses how to make voting interesting again.

I've been waiting for this one to get online in full form: Blender brings you the 50 Worst Songs Ever.

Also, we've killed the Irish lifestyle. Plus, your doctor needs to take his necktie off before he kills you.

Lastly, from EvilNed, titled: This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse. Cringe in fear.

Granted, it is small fries (more on that in a sec) compared to the major problems in the world, but I sat and enjoyed the Pistons whupping the daylights out of the Lakers tonight to win the NBA Championship 100-87. Considering you have a suspected rapist (Bryant), an egotistical thug (O'Neal), and a horse's *ss mercenary (Malone) sitting on the losing bench, it couldn't have ended any better as far as I'm concerned.

Remember when the government tried to make ketchup a vegetable in the '80s? Well, they are at it again. This time its frozen fries being labelled "fresh vegetables." (Use Membername: lvtribune and Password: lvtribune) Oh, in case you missed it - I did - salsa has been a vegetable since 1998. Bonus article that takes the idea seriously.

For the record, if you get as annoyed with those newspaper registrations as I do, go to BugMeNot and type in the URL of where you want to read the stories. Or just use the generic ones I occasionally give to ya.

Other health type news: growing up bilingual keeps your mind sharp as you grow older. Now I find out.

Recent historical date ridiculed here and here. And yes, OJ still got away with murder.

Speaking of kooks, some Branch Davidians still remain.

One fun thing and an interesting slice of life from Baghdad. The first is what you get for a Yahoo search for "incompetent" (check the third entry). The second is a story concerning Baghdad mailmen.

About to go out of town for a couple days and will be in New Mexico next week so I am gonna run a whole bunch of link by you for some weekend reading. Enjoy.

Corruption abounds in the White House as a Halliburton probe shows Cheney did have spurious conversations with the free ride contract kids. The GOP is stopped from removing 20,000 citizen's right to vote in Ohio. First time voters weigh in on why they are going to the polls this election. Soldier's votes and why they are so crucial this election year.

You've probably heard of Al-Qaqaa, the weapon's site where, by some estimates, 377 tons of explosives disappeared. The administration has apparently known about this for some time and ha, like a lot of things, neglected to tell us. But Rudy Giuliani has no problem blaming the troops for this event instead of, well, the administration who planned the invasion perhaps? Gen. Wesley Clark rebutts that slimey line of argument as well as taking a shot at Bush by using his own comments against him (Kerry had done to same to the false president).

So, the bad news for Bush continues to pour in, which one journalist assesses could only mean a Kerry victory, if people actually voted about the issues instead of party loyalty. FDR's grandson reminds people what a War President actually is. The Bush campaign is told to stop using a song at their rallies by the songwriter.

Two tools to figure out how you actually lean politically. One by the Christian Science Monitor. The other by AOL/Time which I had linked previously.

Reference courtesy of The Little Rascals. Various state rulings are making it a legally protected right for women-hating pharmacists to deny filling prescriptions for birth control pills. Major cases in Wisconsin (more) and Texas (more) - where else? - are already ongoing. The argument here is that a care giver's morals are more important than the health of their patient. Which has got to be the biggest load of crap ever attempted sold when you are talking about a person's health and well-being. If you can't perform the damn job, don't do it.

And the restrictions don't stop there. POE takes a look into the future, where care giver's willy-nilly approach to providing services may cost lives. They present it humorously, but it's probably not a joke should this trend continue. Apparently the backlash to the "if-it-feels-good-it-is-good" '60s is the 21st century's "if-it-offends-me-i'll-take-your-rights-away" courtesy of the local GOP. Unless of course, said action degrades women, belittle minorities, disenfranchises non-fundamentalist Christians, etc....then they'll let it happen whether or not they agree with it.

News from the resistance. Alberto Gonzales, the scum picked to replace Ashcroft, raises flags even in this cream puff editorial from Indiana. Then again, people who advocate torture should probably be given a second look. Ashcroft, heading for the door, is calling judges who say parts of the PATRIOT Act are unconstitutional are basically siding with terrorists. Speaking of people who like to label anyone who questions their judge terrorists, Rod Paige is talking about stepping down as Education Secretary. The nation's teachers take a moment to raise a finger and get back to work. The AARP is against Bush's plan to bankrupt - erm, "privative" - Social Security. Just not getting a grasp on my NewSpeak yet. Canada reminds us that they are not our drugstore.

News from our returning vets. Some vets return to find health care non-existant. Female vets have other issues beyond that.

How's that economic recovery working for ya? Tennessee is cutting it's Medicare program and Kansas is seeing a rise in food bank lines. Bet you're glad you voted for Bush now, right?

Who are these damn neoconservatives who took over our country anyway? And, God forbid, are you one? I apparently rate as a "realist," which may come as a surprise to many of you.

In humor, 75 reasons to actually be glad Bush won. The Onion tells it like it is.

As the news of devastation comes in from South Asia (map), we sit here and wonder what we can do to help. If you can't stand the Red Cross because of their American missteps, and don't trust the UN so can't give to UNICEF, may we suggest OxFam? (More options here, courtesy of NPR. The Washington Post has a similar list, with some pointers on how to donate responsibly.)

The good news is that everyone we know from the region are safe, as are their families. This includes our real and virtual friends (I know some folks via the Star Wars club I'm in). Our thoughts and condolences, however, go out to all those who have lost someone or are affected by the tragedy.<

Meanwhile, back in Crawford, apparently the de facto capital of the United States (and when did THIS crap start?), the president sits back, rides his bike, and ignores the plight of millions. Literally all that is missing is the fiddle. (Incidentally, what the hell is with all this "clearing brush?" Who let the yard boy in charge of the country?)

This guy still acts as if he's running some Fortune 500 company instead of a global power. Your indifference and "calm" slaps the rest of the world in the face as apathy and disdain. If you truly want to drive a corporation instead of a nation into the ground, RUN, don't walk, away from your job. I'll even send you a Thank You card.

At least we aren't alone with the slow response. Europe has its own issues. Not that this should excuse our insufficient actions. Slate covers the cable news media coverage on the tragedy and, no surprise to me, CNN does far and above better reporting than those sleaze bags at FOXNews.

Just a few more snipes at the dictator-in-chief. Apparently, he doesn't even go to church. Yeah, that's right, Mr. Religion can't make time for church even though 30% of the time he's on vacation. You Republicans really know how to pick some stand-up guys. More info on how not to give to GOP-supporting companies. If we can't have open elections, let's hit them in their pocketbooks. Huffington on things to forget.

The Democratic party is trying to figure out where to go from the recent election debacle as it considers a new party leader. One of the arguments is whether the party should go to an attack dog strategy, something the "moral" and "character-driven" Republicans have no ethical problems doing. Its hard to know where to stand on this. Do you want to run a clean campaign and lose, or be president knowing you are there based on lies you told morons who watch Fear Factor and Jerry Springer, who think Rush Limbaugh is not an utterly decrepit hypocrite junkie? Then again, as this article states, fighting back is not a bad thing. It beats coddling torturers, like newly-elected Senator Salazar has.

Speaking of lies, Bush basically lied to the Pope about Iraq. Hope all you Catholics who voted for Bush choke on your breakfast. And then maybe fall down a flight of stairs for good measure.

Lying to the American people. The junta paid conservative pundit Armstrong Williams a quarter million dollars to push its No Child Left Behind policy. While they aren't apologetic for it, hopefully Williams feels a modicum of shame for taking public tax dollars to be a willing tool of the GOP. That, and his column has been dropped from various newspaper because, well, because he's an unethical shill. More on the White House's stealth nomination of Alberto Gonzales as they refuse to release any of the papers they have from him. Ten bucks says they're either already shredded or hiding to Bush Senior's library along with Dubya's DUI, military records, and that case where Laura killed her ex-boyfriend.

Speaking of lies, Bush gets a new speechwriter as, presumably, his old one just couldn't look at himself in the mirror anymore without bursting into inconsolable weeping. Meanwhile, his brother picked up a speechwriter once accused of plagiarism in his editorials. Nice.

Mahmoud Abbas won the Palestinian election in what was apparently a clean, fairly efficient process (though the voter rolls might be suspect, a la Florida and Ohio). Not that I expect anything from a guy who cuddles with masked bombers; but hey, a bunch of Arabs held a democratic election without violence, and we didn't have to invade them for it to happen. Think about it.

Meanwhile snivelling GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi wants a new election because he didn't like how the last one turned out. Hopefully, this gets rejected as handily as fellow fascist Viktor Yanukovych's attempt to subvert democracy was in the Ukraine.

Last scary political story: Newt Gingrich wants to be president.

Military news. Here's an idea, let's put together hit squads and start taking out the brains behind the insurgent movement. Not sure why it took so long for us to consider this option. Best of luck to you guys in those units. I really hope this helps the situation.

The army is actively working to provide marriage counseling for returning troops. Yet another excellent idea.

On the way into work I was listening to NPR again (it's a hard commute without Stern on the air). Anyways, the Pulse of the Planet excerpt came on. It's usually about animals and ecology, but today's entry was about Christmas. More importantly, about the historic enemies of Christmas.

Was it pagans? No.

How about non-Christian religious types? No.

Gays? No.

Playwrights and other entertainment types? No.

Was it a pack of religious fundamentalists? Bingo.

Apparently, for a few years in England in the 1600s you could be imprisoned for celebrating Christmas.

Don't believe me? Read the story here.

"(C)an we change the use of the word conservative too? The last time a saw a so-called conservative conserve anything, it was his tax break as he sped by me in his late-model SUV on his way to drill for 4000-year-old oil in a nature preserve."
- comment on a WSJ legal blog by poster Fraser

I was going to lay off the idiots in charge this week. Unfortunately, they just won't quit being themselves. So here goes.

First off, a quick rant. Someone tell me why we call these fools the right wing? They aren't for anybody's rights. No civil rights, no equal rights, no reproductive rights, no technology or fair use rights, not even the Bill of Rights. The only rights they actually conceivably support are the rights to pillage the Earth to it's demise and to be racist, bigoted, hateful pricks that wrap themselves falsely in the flag and cross while doing it.

Anyways, just so you know where I'm coming from as this year begins. As if you had any doubts.

So, we close 2005. A year of disasters man-made and not. A couple of numbers to share with you. The Dow closed below the amount it started the year at. This is the third year since BushBoy got into office. Say, even if you give him a free pass for 2001, isn't 50% failure rate in the stock market a bad thing for a party known for its economic policies? Just checking. Worse news? The government is apparently about to hit the debt ceiling...again. In plain speech? The most powerful nation in the world is about out of money...again.

The Independent reviews Bush's 2005. Meanwhile Bush is moving ahead, still defending his illegal use of wiretapping Americans, still smugly insisting we should just drink the damn kool-aid and trust him. HA! And he swears he never, ever lied to us when he said - repeatedly - that all wiretapping incidents were brought before a judge first. Look, this is a guy who hates the Constitution, calls it a piece of paper. This is also a guy who considers anyone who disagrees with him a traitor. An unrecovered alcoholic and drug abuser who calls himself a Christian but resorts to bombing anyone he can't frighten, coerce, or deceive. And we're supposed to trust this man? No thanks.

Beyond all that, the "limited" collection of this information has been shared to every other government agency; probably even handed over to Mary Kay for all I know.

At HuffPo, other villians of the Republican Party are listed. Both parents didn't come over on the Mayflower? The GOP isn't done trying to strip your citizenship. Partisan bloggers and payoffs to Iraqi TV stations. The CIA and it's many failures of late. Homeland Security failures beyond being incapable of aiding American citizens in times of crisis. And 9/11 funds given to people and businesses in NO WAY affected by the attacks.

Bushoviks are circling the wagon for the new year as they try a new message. I don't imagine telling the truth and apologizing for screwing everything up is on the drawing board? Meanwhile, their boss (and cult leader?) is still trying to coerce newspaper editors to quit printing things like, say, the truth.

A couple of military stories. We don't hear much from the troops directly these days, especially as the military cracks down on soldier's blogs. That said, two recent stories caught my attention. One reports, thankfully, that morale is still high overseas. Also, support for Bush is falling, though not in overwhelming numbers...it is still the military we're talking about. I don't know why I'm linking you to a Ralph Nader article, maybe to balance out the links I give to FAUXNews, but here's his take on the military vs. Rumsfeld.

The latest enemy of the "Christian" zealots? Barbie.

As you might have heard, Cheney shot one of his buddies, the White House tried to hide - or joke about - the incident, and now the guy's had a heart attack due to the lead lodged in him. There's not a whole lot to add to this other than, you should know better than to give a chronic draft dodger a weapon.

Moving from chickenhawks to fried chicken, random angry Pakistanis have burned down a KFC. This all stems from the Mohammed cartoons run by various European newspapers depicting the Prophet in sometimes ill fa