Assorted Rants
Since when does toenail fungus deserve 60-second commercials featuring some icky cartoon Troglodyte jumping in and out of infested toenails? Between that and the cartoon ad about a family of trailer trash mucus setting up housekeeping in some poor schmuck's lungs, I could almost gag.
You want healthy toenails? Stay out of Asian pedicure parlors.
You want mucus free lungs? Stay out of crowds and wash your hands a lot.
I also am tired of these scare tactics being used to warn us off beef, fish and fowl. I somehow doubt anyone will become afflicted with Mad Cow disease, mercury poisoning or Avian flu all at the same time.
I mean, if we listen to all the doomsday forecasters, all the meat we'll have left to eat is pork. Can you imagine? Swine is suddenly the only safe meat? Oy vey.
I love how Bush called a special meeting to tell us how fabulous the economy is doing. He failed to mention the all-time record bankruptcies filed in 2005, or the new banking laws designed to fuck the credit card consumer seven ways to Sunday.
And John McCain can just shut the hell up. He is rightfully against detainee or prisoner of war torture, yet he continues to snuggle up with America's Torture Trio: Dick, Bush and Rummy. Until McCain develops some balls and calls for an end to the Iraqi boondoggle, he can sit there in his bizarre chipmunk cheeks and stew.
As for Bill O'Reilly, I'd like to beat him with a club. The old pervert needs to retire and go into seclusion. His righteous indignation act is so phony, he had to come up with a fantasy left-wing war against Christmas just so he'd have something fresh to rant about. If he wants to be the angel on top of my Christmas tree, I'd gladly shove it up his ass.
Actually, I don't have a Christmas tree. My insane kitten Nick would dismantle a tree in 30 seconds. He's only 8 months old and already he's learned how to take down mini blinds, strip the upholstery off my loveseat down to the wood, carry a shoe in his mouth into another room and jump from the kitchen floor to the top of the refrigerator in one leap.
I had to put both my male cats on a diet. They eat like a couple of teenaged football players and James, the older one, was developing a belly that rivaled John Goodwin's. Alas, their diet results in empty bowls in the morning, which causes them both to conspire against my sleeping body way too early. They take turns strolling up and down my torso, meowing like banshees and putting their cold, wet noses on my face.
I may just have to settle for having two fat cats.
I need the rest.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Friday, December 09, 2005
Project Runway
Is anyone up for a weekly discussion of this fabulous show on Bravo?
The 90-minute season opener was really good.
I think there already are some front-runners- Santino, for one. But he's overly confident, so that'll make for a dastardly hero.
Then there are the crybabies. That bald guy who looks like a fetus is gonna be a real mess.
But I do miss Austin Scarlett. They don't get any gayer than her.
And watch for the Asian girl from Rhode Island School of Design- her computer aided, magnetized fashions make me want to smack her.
Is anyone up for a weekly discussion of this fabulous show on Bravo?
The 90-minute season opener was really good.
I think there already are some front-runners- Santino, for one. But he's overly confident, so that'll make for a dastardly hero.
Then there are the crybabies. That bald guy who looks like a fetus is gonna be a real mess.
But I do miss Austin Scarlett. They don't get any gayer than her.
And watch for the Asian girl from Rhode Island School of Design- her computer aided, magnetized fashions make me want to smack her.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
ADMINISTRATION -- PRESIDENT BUSH CAN'T FILL A ROOM:
The Washington Post reports that "only a few hundred members [of the Council for Foreign Relations] showed up for the hastily organized event at a Washington hotel and empty chairs were removed from the back of the ballroom before Bush arrived.
It wasn’t for lack of effort. ThinkProgress has published a desperate plea the Council sent out late Tuesday, asking people who were planning on coming to bring a friend.
Bush broke Council traditional by refusing to accept questions after his speech. Apparently, most people aren’t that excited about being used as a presidential prop. This may explain why Bush has preferred giving his speeches in front of military audiences, who are required to attend.
The Washington Post reports that "only a few hundred members [of the Council for Foreign Relations] showed up for the hastily organized event at a Washington hotel and empty chairs were removed from the back of the ballroom before Bush arrived.
It wasn’t for lack of effort. ThinkProgress has published a desperate plea the Council sent out late Tuesday, asking people who were planning on coming to bring a friend.
Bush broke Council traditional by refusing to accept questions after his speech. Apparently, most people aren’t that excited about being used as a presidential prop. This may explain why Bush has preferred giving his speeches in front of military audiences, who are required to attend.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Voters Toss Out Spokane Mayor Over Gay Sex Scandal
SPOKANE, Wash.
Republican Mayor James E. West must leave office this month after voters recalled him in a special election sparked by allegations he used a city computer to woo gay men over the Internet.
West, 54, must leave his position when the election results are certified Dec. 16. He has not been charged with a crime, but FBI agents seized computers from his home as part of an investigation.
"I said I'd abide by the will of the voters, obviously, and they've spoken," West told The Associated Press Tuesday. "I'm at peace with their decision and disappointed." The recall election was launched by a local resident, Shannon Sullivan, who said she felt vindicated by the results.
West, a former Boy Scout executive and sheriff's deputy, was elected mayor in 2003 after serving more than two decades as a conservative Republican in the state Legislature, where he voted against gay-friendly bills..."
Ooops, add another Republican to the closet queer list.
Now I know why the GOP got all jacked up about Monica Lewinsky blowing America's last legally elected president.
They didn't care that Bill was getting his dick sucked, they were just mad that a WOMAN was doing it!
SPOKANE, Wash.
Republican Mayor James E. West must leave office this month after voters recalled him in a special election sparked by allegations he used a city computer to woo gay men over the Internet.
West, 54, must leave his position when the election results are certified Dec. 16. He has not been charged with a crime, but FBI agents seized computers from his home as part of an investigation.
"I said I'd abide by the will of the voters, obviously, and they've spoken," West told The Associated Press Tuesday. "I'm at peace with their decision and disappointed." The recall election was launched by a local resident, Shannon Sullivan, who said she felt vindicated by the results.
West, a former Boy Scout executive and sheriff's deputy, was elected mayor in 2003 after serving more than two decades as a conservative Republican in the state Legislature, where he voted against gay-friendly bills..."
Ooops, add another Republican to the closet queer list.
Now I know why the GOP got all jacked up about Monica Lewinsky blowing America's last legally elected president.
They didn't care that Bill was getting his dick sucked, they were just mad that a WOMAN was doing it!
From the New York Times
Secretary Rice's Rendition
It was a sad enough measure of how badly the Bush administration has damaged its moral standing that the secretary of state had to deny that the president condones torture before she could visit some of the most reliable American allies in Europe. It was even worse that she had a hard time sounding credible when she did it.
Of course, it would have helped if Condoleezza Rice was actually in a position to convince the world that the United States has not, does not and will not torture prisoners. But there's just too much evidence that this has happened at the hands of American interrogators or their proxies in other countries. Vice President Dick Cheney is still lobbying to legalize torture at the C.I.A.'s secret prisons, and to block a law that would reimpose on military prisons the decades-old standard of decent treatment that Mr. Bush scrapped after 9/11.
Pesky facts keep getting in the way of Ms. Rice's message. Yesterday, the new German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that Ms. Rice had acknowledged privately that the United States should not have abducted a German citizen, Khaled el-Masri, who says he was sent to Afghanistan and mistreated for five months before the Americans realized that they had the wrong man and let him go.
Mr. Masri tried to appear at a press conference in Washington yesterday to discuss a lawsuit filed in Virginia on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, a suit alleging wrongful imprisonment and torture - but the United States government has refused to allow him into the country.
At issue is the practice of extraordinary rendition. When a government captures someone really dangerous, like a terrorist leader, who cannot be charged under that government's own laws, it sends him to another country where authorities are willing to charge the suspect or at least can get away with locking him up indefinitely without charges.
It's been going on for decades, infrequently and selectively, but the United States is reported to have stepped it up since 9/11 and violated international law by sending suspects to places where it knows they will be tortured. Recently, European governments expressed outrage at reports that some detainees were held at secret C.I.A. prisons in Europe.
Ms. Rice, like other American officials, will not comment on these reports. But before leaving Washington on Monday, she read a statement implying that if there were any secret prisons out there, the host countries knew about them. She rather bluntly warned that European countries who want American intelligence had better not betray any secrets.
Certainly, some of Europe's shock at the news of the C.I.A. camps is political theater aimed at the widely anti-American European public. But that doesn't make it any less disturbing that the United States government seems to have lost its ability to distinguish between acts that may occur sub rosa in some exceptional, critical situations and the basic rules of proper international behavior.
Ms. Rice said Monday that rendition had been used to lock up some really dangerous bad guys, like Carlos the Jackal and Ramzi Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But both men were charged in courts, put on trial, convicted and sentenced. That's what most American think when they hear talk about "bringing the terrorists to justice" - not predawn abductions, blindfolded prisoners on plane rides and years of torture in distant lands without any public reckoning.
Secretary Rice's Rendition
It was a sad enough measure of how badly the Bush administration has damaged its moral standing that the secretary of state had to deny that the president condones torture before she could visit some of the most reliable American allies in Europe. It was even worse that she had a hard time sounding credible when she did it.
Of course, it would have helped if Condoleezza Rice was actually in a position to convince the world that the United States has not, does not and will not torture prisoners. But there's just too much evidence that this has happened at the hands of American interrogators or their proxies in other countries. Vice President Dick Cheney is still lobbying to legalize torture at the C.I.A.'s secret prisons, and to block a law that would reimpose on military prisons the decades-old standard of decent treatment that Mr. Bush scrapped after 9/11.
Pesky facts keep getting in the way of Ms. Rice's message. Yesterday, the new German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that Ms. Rice had acknowledged privately that the United States should not have abducted a German citizen, Khaled el-Masri, who says he was sent to Afghanistan and mistreated for five months before the Americans realized that they had the wrong man and let him go.
Mr. Masri tried to appear at a press conference in Washington yesterday to discuss a lawsuit filed in Virginia on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, a suit alleging wrongful imprisonment and torture - but the United States government has refused to allow him into the country.
At issue is the practice of extraordinary rendition. When a government captures someone really dangerous, like a terrorist leader, who cannot be charged under that government's own laws, it sends him to another country where authorities are willing to charge the suspect or at least can get away with locking him up indefinitely without charges.
It's been going on for decades, infrequently and selectively, but the United States is reported to have stepped it up since 9/11 and violated international law by sending suspects to places where it knows they will be tortured. Recently, European governments expressed outrage at reports that some detainees were held at secret C.I.A. prisons in Europe.
Ms. Rice, like other American officials, will not comment on these reports. But before leaving Washington on Monday, she read a statement implying that if there were any secret prisons out there, the host countries knew about them. She rather bluntly warned that European countries who want American intelligence had better not betray any secrets.
Certainly, some of Europe's shock at the news of the C.I.A. camps is political theater aimed at the widely anti-American European public. But that doesn't make it any less disturbing that the United States government seems to have lost its ability to distinguish between acts that may occur sub rosa in some exceptional, critical situations and the basic rules of proper international behavior.
Ms. Rice said Monday that rendition had been used to lock up some really dangerous bad guys, like Carlos the Jackal and Ramzi Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. But both men were charged in courts, put on trial, convicted and sentenced. That's what most American think when they hear talk about "bringing the terrorists to justice" - not predawn abductions, blindfolded prisoners on plane rides and years of torture in distant lands without any public reckoning.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
GOP Pundits Trumpeting a Partial Victory? HA!
Texas Judge Lets Stand 2 of 3 Charges Against DeLay
Pat Priest, a San Antonio judge, dismissed one charge against Tom Delay on Monday but let stand two more serious charges, complicating Mr. DeLay's hopes of regaining his post as House majority leader when Congress resumes in January.
Judge Priest dropped the lesser conspiracy charge, but he left standing charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money.
The decision moves DeLay and his co-defendants, GOP fund-raisers John D. Colyandro and James W. Ellis, a big step closer to facing trial - perhaps as soon as January - on felony charges that carry long prison terms and fines.
The best part is, these two remaining serious charges will prevent DeLay from reclaiming his seat as House Majority Leader. Even if he's found not guilty, the trial alone will Simpsonize* his reputation for the rest of his miserable life.
*a Pulp Friction original
Texas Judge Lets Stand 2 of 3 Charges Against DeLay
Pat Priest, a San Antonio judge, dismissed one charge against Tom Delay on Monday but let stand two more serious charges, complicating Mr. DeLay's hopes of regaining his post as House majority leader when Congress resumes in January.
Judge Priest dropped the lesser conspiracy charge, but he left standing charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money.
The decision moves DeLay and his co-defendants, GOP fund-raisers John D. Colyandro and James W. Ellis, a big step closer to facing trial - perhaps as soon as January - on felony charges that carry long prison terms and fines.
The best part is, these two remaining serious charges will prevent DeLay from reclaiming his seat as House Majority Leader. Even if he's found not guilty, the trial alone will Simpsonize* his reputation for the rest of his miserable life.
*a Pulp Friction original
Plame Is Set to Leave the CIA
The Los Angeles Times
Washington - Valerie Plame, the diplomat's wife whose secret resume was exposed in a newspaper column that eventually led to the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is leaving the CIA on Friday, people familiar with her plans said.
Plame, 42, worked undercover for the CIA tracking weapons proliferation but saw her clandestine career imperiled after she was identified as an agency operative in the summer of 2003 in a syndicated column by Robert Novak.
Friends said the mother of 5-year-old twins wanted to spend more time with her family, and that although she agreed to be photographed last year with her husband for an article about the case in Vanity Fair magazine, she had no plans to speak out.
There has also been speculation that she would file a civil lawsuit against the Bush administration contending that it leaked her identity and damaged her career.
"She did not have a career left," said Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA officer and a friend of Plame since the two were in the same agency training class in the 1980s. "She was no longer able to work as a clandestine officer, which was her reason for being."
Johnson said that although Plame still had allies at the agency, her ability to function effectively was irreparably harmed after her status became publicly known.
"She is either a non-entity or radioactive," Johnson said. "Getting connected with her is not something that is going to enhance your career. She has been something of a leper."
---------------------
Ahem. Is that a lawsuit I smell?
I hope Plame uses the best plaintiff's attorney she can find to sue those responsible for ruining her career.
As I've said before, it takes some pretty chickenshit men to go after a man's wife to exact revenge. Not even Richard Nixon stooped that low.
In this no-holds-barred political cage match, here's hoping she wins such a large settlement, Plame's great-great grandchildren benefit from the proceeds of a lawsuit aimed at BushCo. God knows they have the money.
The Los Angeles Times
Washington - Valerie Plame, the diplomat's wife whose secret resume was exposed in a newspaper column that eventually led to the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, is leaving the CIA on Friday, people familiar with her plans said.
Plame, 42, worked undercover for the CIA tracking weapons proliferation but saw her clandestine career imperiled after she was identified as an agency operative in the summer of 2003 in a syndicated column by Robert Novak.
Friends said the mother of 5-year-old twins wanted to spend more time with her family, and that although she agreed to be photographed last year with her husband for an article about the case in Vanity Fair magazine, she had no plans to speak out.
There has also been speculation that she would file a civil lawsuit against the Bush administration contending that it leaked her identity and damaged her career.
"She did not have a career left," said Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA officer and a friend of Plame since the two were in the same agency training class in the 1980s. "She was no longer able to work as a clandestine officer, which was her reason for being."
Johnson said that although Plame still had allies at the agency, her ability to function effectively was irreparably harmed after her status became publicly known.
"She is either a non-entity or radioactive," Johnson said. "Getting connected with her is not something that is going to enhance your career. She has been something of a leper."
---------------------
Ahem. Is that a lawsuit I smell?
I hope Plame uses the best plaintiff's attorney she can find to sue those responsible for ruining her career.
As I've said before, it takes some pretty chickenshit men to go after a man's wife to exact revenge. Not even Richard Nixon stooped that low.
In this no-holds-barred political cage match, here's hoping she wins such a large settlement, Plame's great-great grandchildren benefit from the proceeds of a lawsuit aimed at BushCo. God knows they have the money.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Reclaim Your Inner Bohemian
It's nice to step away from these never-ending political scandals du jour once in a while and do something to take one's mind off the greedy, inept criminals running our nation into the ground.
The movie RENT fills the escapism bill.
Originally adapted for the theater from the opera La Boheme and now translated to film, it's nice to be reminded that some people still consider art, sex, fighting AIDS and freedom from the materialistic rat race important enough to celebrate.
In a country where Bohemians, artists and liberals are often considered Satan's children, it's nice to sit in a dark theater for a few hours without having to see, hear or think about neo-con bilge.
When a culture dies, anthropologists measure art, music, science and literature as benchmarks for the culture's level of evolution.
Warmongering, neglecting the educational needs of children, religious and political intolerance and political graft are measures of a culture's devolution. Flaws like that destroy cultures, in fact.
Seeing RENT reminded me that this administration is an artless one. Cultural growth has stagnated. Artists and free thinkers are considered subversive to this government, like with most fascist governments. Nothing even remotely indicates the Bush clan gives a damn about culture, beyond patriotic Country music and NASCAR racing.
The movie is gritty and sexy and druggy and disturbingly exhilarating because nobody is judging anyone. Even the Big Business villains are relegated to background scenes and given no dialog. What a relief to see them muted.
Go see it.
For a few hours, you'll be set free and reminded that art still exists, despite neo-con efforts to destroy it.
It's nice to step away from these never-ending political scandals du jour once in a while and do something to take one's mind off the greedy, inept criminals running our nation into the ground.
The movie RENT fills the escapism bill.
Originally adapted for the theater from the opera La Boheme and now translated to film, it's nice to be reminded that some people still consider art, sex, fighting AIDS and freedom from the materialistic rat race important enough to celebrate.
In a country where Bohemians, artists and liberals are often considered Satan's children, it's nice to sit in a dark theater for a few hours without having to see, hear or think about neo-con bilge.
When a culture dies, anthropologists measure art, music, science and literature as benchmarks for the culture's level of evolution.
Warmongering, neglecting the educational needs of children, religious and political intolerance and political graft are measures of a culture's devolution. Flaws like that destroy cultures, in fact.
Seeing RENT reminded me that this administration is an artless one. Cultural growth has stagnated. Artists and free thinkers are considered subversive to this government, like with most fascist governments. Nothing even remotely indicates the Bush clan gives a damn about culture, beyond patriotic Country music and NASCAR racing.
The movie is gritty and sexy and druggy and disturbingly exhilarating because nobody is judging anyone. Even the Big Business villains are relegated to background scenes and given no dialog. What a relief to see them muted.
Go see it.
For a few hours, you'll be set free and reminded that art still exists, despite neo-con efforts to destroy it.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
A Karen Zipdrive Blogatorial:
Have a Holly, Jolly Bag of Neo-con Bullshit
Pinheads like Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson over at FUX NEWS are trying to make a big deal out of allegations that we liberals take umbrage with Christmas celebrations, preferring to refer to them instead as, "holiday celebrations."
Just like the gay marriage issue, these neo-con artists have come up with a new, nonsensical "crisis" issue designed to deflect the heat off the war and the criminals in the White House who lied to get us into it.
I am a bleeding heart liberal who has no trouble with what people call their holidays or how they celebrate them, as long as they don't shit on my lawn.
I know of no one who thinks the word Christmas is inflammatory or politically incorrect. In fact, I think it's very disrespectful to REAL Christians to use this topic as a political football.
Most liberals are tolerant of everything but intolerance.
If O'Reilly or Gibson had any integrity at all, they'd stop wasting air time on these silly, fabricated scams. This phony PC Christmas scandal is weak even for these foaming mouthed idiots.
O'Reilly jumped the shark when news of his bought-off sexual harassment lawsuit coincided with the release of his children's book.
And the eternally inconsequential John Gibson is making a fool of himself for 15 minutes of lukewarm fame.
May both their Christmas trees be highly flammable, and may their Christmas Open Houses include lots of clumsy, drunk smokers.
Fuckin' jerks.
Have a Holly, Jolly Bag of Neo-con Bullshit
Pinheads like Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson over at FUX NEWS are trying to make a big deal out of allegations that we liberals take umbrage with Christmas celebrations, preferring to refer to them instead as, "holiday celebrations."
Just like the gay marriage issue, these neo-con artists have come up with a new, nonsensical "crisis" issue designed to deflect the heat off the war and the criminals in the White House who lied to get us into it.
I am a bleeding heart liberal who has no trouble with what people call their holidays or how they celebrate them, as long as they don't shit on my lawn.
I know of no one who thinks the word Christmas is inflammatory or politically incorrect. In fact, I think it's very disrespectful to REAL Christians to use this topic as a political football.
Most liberals are tolerant of everything but intolerance.
If O'Reilly or Gibson had any integrity at all, they'd stop wasting air time on these silly, fabricated scams. This phony PC Christmas scandal is weak even for these foaming mouthed idiots.
O'Reilly jumped the shark when news of his bought-off sexual harassment lawsuit coincided with the release of his children's book.
And the eternally inconsequential John Gibson is making a fool of himself for 15 minutes of lukewarm fame.
May both their Christmas trees be highly flammable, and may their Christmas Open Houses include lots of clumsy, drunk smokers.
Fuckin' jerks.
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