Saturday, January 31, 2004
Hey, Yee! You tryin' ta make a Monkey outa us this year?!?
So here we sit in Cahleefohrneeiah with a budget deficit the size of Canada and bright bulb Leland Yee, Ph.D. [D-SF] wants the state Building Standards Comission to adopt feng shui principles and include them in the Codes. *sigh* Feng shui is the ancient practice of hiring someone to tell you to place a mirror here and remove a wall there in order to increase your health and prosperity through balance of the flow of chi [life force.] Being an ancient practice, it has its origins around the same time as the practices of divining the future by reading the entrails of a chicken and burying an army of clay warriors to protect yourself in the afterlife -- with about as much verifiable validity. Now I am in complete agreement with the idea that one's surroundings impact one's state of mind. Just accompany me to a WalMart and watch the berzerker. I am all for encouraging the creation of more attractive public buildings and pushing over the strip malls with a DC-10. I just think that in this time of laid-off fire, police, and teachers and $50 gazillion bond measures, one might have sense enough to postpone the introduction of an ephemeral, floaty-moldy,Happy Compulsive's Housekeeper's Helpful Hint #74
Put your sponge in the microwave and "cook" on High for 1 minute every day to kill nasty kitchen germs and prevent intestinal chaos.
PC and EO - NNA **
Need a laff? **Politically Correct and Easily Offended -- Need Not Apply"... this guy walks into a bar with a duck on his head ..." • (2) Trackbacks • Link This
Friday, January 30, 2004
Who? Me?!?
Reading about the Supreme Court’s recent McConnell v. FEC decision upholding McCain-Feingold, the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002, including its ban on soft money campaign contributions and issue ads on television and radio, I can across this concept by Mark Tapscott. The law bans "issue ads" [wherein a group with an issue often blasts or praises a particular politician's stance on their issue] 30 days before a primary and 60 days before as general election because the ads create a "corrupting appearance." Now that's an interesting phrase: a corrupting "appearance" vs "influence" or "actuality," even. The argument continues that if these ads cause a "corrupting appearance" on TV or radio, won't they do the same thing in a newspaper or on a website?? Is Justice Thomas right when he writes, "The chilling endpoint of the Court's reasoning is not difficult to see: outright regulation of the press." Are bloggers going to be considered as "part of the press?" Cuz that really wouldn't work for me... Yanno?Maybe It Is All About the Oiiiiil
Lookie what ABCNEWS found lying around in the Iraqi Ministry of Oiiiiillll. A list of contracts and gifts fron the Ministry to supporters of Saddam's under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Looks more like Oil-for-My-Pals...Who was on The List?? -- Russian government: Vladimir Putin - 92 million barrels Russian ambassador to Baghdad - 1 million barrels Russian Communist Party - 137 million barrels Russian Orthodox Church - 5 million barrels [kinda playin' both sides of the street, here...] -- According to the document, France was the second-largest beneficiary, with tens of millions of barrels awarded to Patrick Maugein, a close political associate and financial backer of French President Jacques Chirac -- George Galloway, a British member of Parliament, 19 million barrels of oil -- Also on the list are the names of prominent journalists, two Iraqi-Americans, and a French priest who organized a meeting between the pope and Tariq Aziz, Saddam's deputy prime minister.
"Investigators say none of the people involved would have actually taken possession of oil, but rather just the right to buy the oil at a discounted price, which could be resold to a legitimate broker or oil company, at an average profit of about 50 cents a barrel. " Uh... I didn't Haliburton on this list. hmmm More of a partial list is below: Russia The Companies of the Russian Communist Party: 137 million The Companies of the Liberal Democratic Party: 79.8 million The Russian Committee for Solidarity with Iraq: 6.5 million and 12.5 million (2 separate contracts) Head of the Russian Presidential Cabinet: 90 million The Russian Orthodox Church: 5 million France Charles Pasqua, former minister of interior: 12 million Trafigura (Patrick Maugein), businessman: 25 million Ibex: 47.2 million Bernard Merimee, former French ambassador to the United Nations: 3 million Michel Grimard, founder of the French-Iraqi Export Club: 17.1 million Syria Firas Mostafa Tlass, son of Syria's defense minister: 6 million Turkey Zeynel Abidin Erdem: more than 27 million Lotfy Doghan: more than 11 million Indonesia Megawati Sukarnoputri: 11 million Spain Ali Ballout, Lebanese journalist: 8.8 million Yugoslavia The Socialist Party: 22 million Kostunica's Party: 6 million Canada Arthur Millholland, president and CEO of Oilexco: 9.5 million Italy Father Benjamin, a French Catholic priest who arranged a meeting between the pope and Tariq Aziz: 4.5 million Roberto Frimigoni: 24.5 million United States Samir Vincent: 7 million Shakir Alkhalaji: 10.5 million United Kingdom George Galloway, member of Parliament: 19 million Mujaheddin Khalq: 36.5 million South Africa Tokyo Saxwale: 4 million Jordan Shaker bin Zaid: 6.5 million The Jordanian Ministry of Energy: 5 million Fawaz Zureikat: 6 million Toujan Al Faisal, former member of Parliament: 3 million Lebanon The son of President Lahoud: 5.5 million Egypt Khaled Abdel Nasser: 16.5 million Emad Al Galda, businessman and Parliament member: 14 million Palestinian Territories The Palestinian Liberation Organization: 4 million Abu Al Abbas: 11.5 million Qatar Hamad bin Ali Al Thany: 14 million Libya Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem: 1 million Chad Foreign minister of Chad: 3 million Brazil The October 8th Movement: 4.5 million Myanmar (Burma) The minister of the Forests of Myanmar: 5 million Ukraine The Social Democratic Party: 8.5 million The Communist Party: 6 million The Socialist Party: 2 million The FTD oil company: 2 million
The Council Has Spoken ! ! !
The Heart of Change by Alpha Patriot and, Saddam Lied, People Died by Dean's World Full results of the vote are over at The Watcher's, and the week's entries are too! Spambots: byte hot bits and die!! [Thanx, Watcher!]Thursday, January 29, 2004
CYA Watch
or: Do ya think you're safe? Do ya, punk?!? Kevin at The Smallest Minority shares the tale of a couple, "Not a typical suburban family," who have been sentenced to felony charges, jail time, and being forced to remain apart. Oh, yeah -- and their house torn down and their business ruined. What did they have that prompted this hefty response on the part of nice, liberal Cahleefohrneeiahn law enforcement? Nukes? no, less. Tanks? nope, less. Chemical weapons? Bio Weapons?? nope -- 10 [ten] tracer rounds. Between 'em. If even part of this story is the way it was reported [origin LATimes - nuff sed] we need to spend some time and effort in serious reconsideration of the meaning of "civil disobedience." Go read the rest of Kevin's blog -- good stuff well written. It'll make yaParity?
Where did all the dollars go -- short time passing? Apparently Dean is in such bad shape that he's asking his staffers to take salary deferments . Does this mean that the"Fetch me! Carry me!! Peel me a grape!!!"
Kate has written an in depth piece following the thinking about suits for reparations for slavery to it's logical conclusion. Clear and succinct. [I recommend reading both posts.]... What's even more appalling: the fact that I, as a non-African-American, would be considered a racist were I to walk up to someone whose ancestors were slaves and say "You'll never succeed on your own merits unless I pay you, so here's some cash" yet that is precisely the reasoning behind this lawsuit. ...
We have swung from one extreme to the other. The old, John Wayne invulnerability facade ["muh leg just fell off -- not a problem"] has given way to the Culture of the Victim wherein any and every slight, offense or injury is justification for endless howling and demands for retribution and repair -- from others. Admittedly, the stoic and unflappable Marlboro Man approach left many things unaddressed which it would have been better to have attended to and healed, but it did carry within it the expectation that getting past and moving on from injury was not only possible, but desirable and necessary. Kate's phrase, above, is the precise example of the logical endpoint of this approach -- "I was injured and therefore am forever defective. Carry me." That viewpoint to the is the ultimate insult to human dignity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness. We do ourselves irreversible harm by not expecting ourselves, and each other, to get up and march on from any injury. No, the process is not so simple at that. To use a metaphor: after suffering a broken leg, one must undergo hours and hours of painful physical rehabilitation. If one forgoes that effort and spends that time in court suing the owner of the sidewalk where one broke that leg, one will likely never walk on one's own again. Often that idea is characterized as too "harsh and uncaring." That is precisely the feeling that enables [yes, I use that word intentionally, with all its ramifications] the Victimhood to continue. It is the world that is uncaring. Nature has natural laws and doesn't give quarter to those who break them. Every time you let go of your coffee cup, it will fall. Every time. It is up to you to make sure that you let go of it in such a way that it does not drench your keyboard nor burn your lap off. Your responsibility as a thinking being. Yep, I said responsibility. Nature doesn't quibble or cajole if you don't rehabilitate a broken leg -- she assumes that, as a thinking being, you made that choice, and she goes on accordingly. What we are aiming to learn, as a species, is that it is beneficial to us all to take the time and attention to heal any and every injury we can so that we are able to get up and go on with what we were doing.
Technically speaking
Anybody else noticed that sitemeter ain't a countin' today? [accounting?]Ya mean it's catching?!?
Yep, Acquired Situational Narcissism as described by Robert B. Millman, medical advisor to Major League Baseball, is that lovely tendency of celebrities to think the world begins and ends at their own nose. Regular Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a painful, lifelong condition, involves the following characteristics - paraphrased: -- expects to be recognized as superior out of proportion to any achievement; --preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited power, success, brilliance, ideal love; -- believes that s/he is "special and unique" and should only have to associate with other special or high-status people/institutions; -- requires and demands excessive admiration; -- sense of entitlement, unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment and of others automatically going along with his/her every whim; -- takes advantage of others to meet own needs/desires; -- unable to recognize or identify with the feelings of others, lacks empathy; -- haughty, arrogant behaviors [impatience, anger when things don't go his/her way] Some [more than 5] or all of these things come together to have a severe, negative impact and influence in the person's life. [Many of these charatcteristics are recognizable in ourselves or others to a lesser degree -- the true disorder prevents normal relationships and normal functioning to a severe degree.] The condition results from an incomplete maturing around age 2-4 when we move from the limited, self-centered world of a wholly dependent infant to recognizing that others are like us and need to be considered. The acquired part of the condition Millman describes occurs when the power of fame/money change how the people around the individual relate to him. Being unable to walk down the street without being mobbed by adoring fans, even the closest relationships are so unbalanced by the power differences that the only reflections the individual receives from anyone is "oh, you're great, oh you're wonderful, please don't hurt/fire/crush me..." One down sycophancy.This includes the celebrity's usual planetary system of assistants, publicists, agents, lawyers and groupies. But it also includes us, the public. We're all complicit in acquired situational narcissism. ''We've created it,'' says Millman. ''They're just responding to us.'' ...So why is acquired situational narcissism a problem? It's not, for us or for E! or for the tabloids or for VH1's ''Behind the Music.'' It is, however, for the acquired situational narcissists. Their marriages fall apart, they make lousy parents, they take copious quantities of drugs, they get into trouble with the law. ''Because they truly don't believe the world is real,'' Millman says, ''they begin to think they're invulnerable. Some even risk their lives, since the world can't hurt them if it's not real.'' ..."I have high-class problems!"
Seems like Millman has come up with a good handle to describe a phenomenon we all recognize on sight.
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Sturdy Gurtey ?!? Nope, Scary Kerrry
Would you get up at midnight to vote for this???
Congratulations -- ya look like the cat's drag ins...
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Welcome to the 21st Century ! !
Thank you. Thank you. Just wanted to letcha know that I'm sittin' here on a nice large couch, dog snoring gently at my side, in front of a roaring fire -- wireless. Yep. I'm kewl. How? you ask. I went down to the store -- the thing I wanted to avoid in the firstest place, cuz it's such a hassle and all? -- and, in about 5 [literally five] minutes, I was out with my object du desire. *sigh* This after learning, in my 6th phone call, that the Airport I ordered many, many moons [okay, suns] ago is still in Ohio. Airborne/DHLd buh bye.I remember him well . . .
"Jack Paar was genuine, and the footprints he left on the loony moonscape of television are enormous; they will be there forever."
I guess I was a verbal kinda kid. I remember thinking he was funny -- when I could get away with staying up that late . . .
Monday, January 26, 2004
Non-rational Reactivity
Bastard Sword has a very interesting theory about the rabid emotionality infusing the smoking debate:children likely feel disgust not at smoking, but at smokers as a class of people, those unclean, disease carrying people who should be strongly avoided. They often act as if smokers should have no rights or place of their own. To them, smokers are the new untouchables.
Read the whole thing -- the theory about the origin and evolutionary purpose of disgust and facts about related customs are fascinating. Good blog. ThanQ! Mrs Jedi
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