A fun activity

This is fun: Go to Google.com, enter the word "failure" and hit the search button. Notice the first result that is generated. I love it! I agree! Worst _______ ever! A total failure in every regard!

Thank you, Pat Robertson!

Self-righteous Christian and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson yesterday called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been very critical of the Bush administration and America in general. According to the Associated Press, Robertson on his 700 Club religious show said "We have the ability to take him [Chavez] out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," and added, "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

This comes shortly after Robertson earlier this month, again on his 700 Club show, called for his audience to pray that there would be additional vacancies on the US Supreme Court. Since Supreme Court justices serve a lifetime term, the only way there would be a vacancy would be because of death or some other health related issue (Sandra Day O'Connor stepped down to spend more time with her husband, who apparently has Alzheimer's Disease). In essence, Robertson was asking people to pray for death or some other bad thing to happen to additional justices.

Mr. Robertson, what kind of Christian are you? Do you even hear what you are saying? Do you know what the Fifth Commandment is? Why don't you call for your rich buddies and your audience of devout Christians to do something constructive like give to the poor or pray for world peace? Thanks for exposing your true colors--the colors of a self-righteous hypocrite. Bah!

DDSDDS

Walking down the street this afternoon I noticed a truck pass by. On its side was Dakota Data Shred Document Destruction Services. It struck me with an odd mixture of feelings: amusement, pensiveness and security. First I laughed at the thought of exploding piles of paper. Next came to mind thoughts of monks in Europe during the Middle Ages and how they often spent many hours hand-copying books. Would they be appalled that documents were so plentiful in this day and age that we freely destroyed them on a very regular basis? I guess information these days is cheap... I know we destroy documents these days to protect privacy, etc. and, in the end, from my 21st century perspective I guess I was glad that an organization like Dakota Data Shred Document Destruction Services exists. Still, I wonder what it was like living in time when even being able to read was a skill that only the very rich and those darn monks possessed... Confetti, anyone?

The Mom vs. the 80% President

You go, Cindy Sheehan! Thanks to this mother of a young soldier killed in Iraq, someone is finally having the persistence to ask a simple question. That question is: why are we in Iraq? All she is asking for is a direct, honest answer. It's no wonder that 'king W. is avoiding her...he doesn't have an answer because his state rationale has changed with each revelation that the previous reason given by his administration doesn't hold water.

So how does one ask such a question when the supposedly liberal media has all but given up on true investigative journalism? This solitary mother simply decided to camp outside his driveway as he takes the longest presidential vacation in 30+ years. He truly is the 80% president, since he has spent approximately 20% of his entire time in office on vacation at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS Radio reporter and as reported in the August 3, 2005, edition of the Seattle Times. And, according to that same edition of the Seattle Times, "Weekends and holidays at Camp David or at his parents' compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, bump up the proportion of Bush's time away from Washington even further."

Let's say the average person works 52 40-hour work weeks or 260 days. Now let's subtract 7 days for holidays like Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and New Year's Day. That's 253 work days for the average American worker. At his rate of 20% off, 'king W. takes about 50 days or 10 weeks of paid vacation per year--which means he works about 203 days a year. I'd love to have a job where I could take 10 weeks off and still earn my full salary.

To be fair, his aides say during his vacation he receives daily briefings and signs required paperwork, etc.--sort of a work at home atmosphere. I don't really buy that as "working" as I often check in with work on days off or on weekends to see how things are going.

Since I've begun to ramble, let me finish by acknowledging the two issues here. 1) One solitary mother can do more to be persistent in order to ask a question than the entire U.S. Media and still be ignored by 'king W. and 2) 'king W. has what could be the most complex job in the Western World and, yet, apparently spends far less time at it than the average American spends at his or her job. Man, this guy must be like the best president ever! (Please read that last line with a strong tone of sarcasm.)

Can't talk, angry...

Okay, I haven't posted anything for about two weeks. Why? I'm trying to get over being politically angry.

Angry at 'king W's appointment of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations and Peter Flory as assistant secretary of defense--both of which via a constitutional provision enabling him to bypass the Senate and install directly a nominee who had been blocked in the Senate.

Angry at 'king W. for his endorsement of the push by many of his conservative Christian supporters to give intelligent design equal treatment with the theory of evolution in public schools.

Angry at 'king W. not firing his lackey, Karl Rove, for revealing the name of a CIA operative.

Angry at the U.S. Congress for passing an energy bill that gives big oil companies billions of dollars of tax breaks and that does very little to lessen our dependency on fossil fuels.

Angry at the U.S. citizenry for letting this all happen without any sense of public outrage.

Honestly, I'm not normally an angry person, but it just goes on and on with no end in sight. So I guess I should talk about something positive.

Sufjan Steven's new CD "Illinois" is excellent with quirky, joyous, sad and often beautiful moments.

Okay, now back to being politically angry, at least until the 2008 election...