Merry Chris-, er Solst-, uh Day (Late)

allegedly from 1960:
heh. my late christmas present to y'all.

"JACKSON, Mo. -- A collision with a semi-trailer truck seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved. After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Mrs. Shank's care.
Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Mrs. Shank's former employer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc."
(go here for the entire Wall Street Journal article)

can anyone say single payer health care? while i understand the recouping of certain unneeded costs by insurers and employers if the costs are found to be ridiculous and/or frivolous, i cannot in any way understand this. and, yes, it could happen to you. or me. this is our future. more and more loopholes to allow companies and CEO's a larger slice of our money at our expense, all made legal by our government and our Supreme Court.
and they will get away with it, too, because we as a nation have become inured to the machinations of those in power. we expect to be screwed and they know it. we have turned deaf and dumb to even the most egregious of crimes perpetrated by the very individuals we elect to the halls of congress and the presidency in an effort to pretend that life is good, rosy, not smelling of the very shit we are being drowned in.
what is the line? "if you are going to lie, lie until you're blue in the face". so long as we don't bother to delve too deeply into the actions of our "leaders" the easier it becomes for them to rely on that.
it's time to wake up, smell the bullshit, and do more than simply say "i voted". because voting doesn't seem to be doing much anymore.

You Want Lies With That, Mister?

so, let's see here. blackwater mercenaries gun down something like 16 unarmed iraqis, get backed by the bush administration who claim it was defensive fire, then they get investigated by the FBI and the FBI finds that blackwater mercenaries actually did kill innocent iraqis and it passes the benchmark into murder. hmm, sounds like blackwater is in the shit, right? done and done. no more free handouts, bad doggie, no bisquit.
but, oops. just the other day comes this:

"Presidential Airways, Inc., an aviation Worldwide Services company (d/b/a Blackwater Aviation), Moyock, N.C., is being awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) type contract for $92,000,000.00. The contractor is to provide all fixed-wing aircraft, personnel, equipment, tools, material, maintenance and supervision necessary to perform passenger, cargo and combi Short Take-Off and Landing air transportation services between locations in the Area of Responsibility of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. This contract was competitively procured and two timely offers were received. The performance period is from 1 Oct. 2007 to 30 September 2011. "

Presidential Airways is the aviation wing of blackwater. so, blackwater is under investigation for, well, murder and it is still receiving contracts to operate in, huh, countries other than iraq, but still either border iraq or are in the general area.
and, then, there's this:
"During today’s House Oversight Committee hearing on the performance of State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) revealed that Krongard’s brother — former CIA Executive Director A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard — sits on Blackwater USA’s board. Krongard vehemently denied the allegation, calling it an “ugly rumor”..."
what the fuck...

Hey Chinese Subs: La La La, We Can't Hear You!

The uninvited guest: Chinese sub pops up in middle of U.S. Navy exercise, leaving military chiefs red-faced
When the U.S. Navy deploys a battle fleet on exercises, it takes the security of its aircraft carriers very seriously indeed.
At least a dozen warships provide a physical guard while the technical wizardry of the world's only military superpower offers an invisible shield to detect and deter any intruders.
That is the theory. Or, rather, was the theory.
(good thing we're the world's only superpower and our ability to detect really, really big machines with really, really big bombs is as good as our ability to detect toothpaste tubes weighing more 3.5 ounces at airports)

Bush's bishops: Exit Iraq now
President Bush’s church, long at odds with him on matters of public policy, called on the United States and its partners today to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq immediately.
(i was born, baptised and raised a methodist and have never been very comfortable with the national leaning towards conservatism. christ was a radical, condemned by almost all, so it should be that a church who claims to follow his teachings should truly follow it and not fear the label. yet, mostly, this church has. so, it's nice to read that it is breaking with some of its old blindness)

So, Uh, Like Stay Healthy And Insurance Will Protect You?

One of the state's largest health insurers set goals and paid bonuses based in part on how many individual policyholders were dropped and how much money was saved.Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. avoided paying $35.5 million in medical expenses by rescinding about 1,600 policies between 2000 and 2006. During that period, it paid its senior analyst in charge of cancellations more than $20,000 in bonuses based in part on her meeting or exceeding annual targets for revoking policies, documents disclosed Thursday showed.

Two hugs equals two days of detention for 13-year-old Megan Coulter. The eighth-grader was punished for violating a school policy banning public displays of affection when she hugged two friends Friday.

Lookin' For Some Wheels

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With oil prices setting records over $90 a barrel - and $100 looking ever more likely - experts say there's a good chance drivers will see $3 gasoline before the end of the year."

heh. where do these people live? because i want to move there if they haven't seen $3 a gallon gas yet.

"But so far drivers have been lucky. The national average price for gasoline has risen barely one cent, going from $2.81 last month to $2.82 this month"...

the cheapest i see on my way to and from work is $2.95. and, yes, i know that fresno and the valley always have higher averages than most of the rest of the country due (in part) to the massive amount of trucking that rumbles through here.
so, does anyone know anyone who sells mopeds for relatively cheap? i am now officially in the market for one.

more camping

Ah Wilderness!

ah, camping. the great outdoors. fresh air. pitting one's will against the ambiguous evil of nature. battling the elements mano a mano. guy stuff. man way. ugh!

Going Camping... Again.

and, yes, it will look somewhat like that. multiplied by 7.

DUR???

Bush: 'I make a lot of decisions'
By DEB RIECHMANN -- Associated Press Writer
(Updated Wednesday, October 3, 2007, 2:36 PM)


LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) Give the man a microphone and he'll talk about anything. For 76 minutes, President Bush prowled the stage Wednesday in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, giving a speech and answering questions about everything from his opposition to tax increases to his veto of a bill to expand children's health insurance.
But he covered a lot of other ground, too.
Bush gave an intriguing description about what happens when businesses expand, as was the case here at a company run by a woman.
"You know, when you give a man more money in his pocket - in this case, a woman - more money in her pocket to expand a business, they build new buildings. And when somebody builds a new building, somebody has got to come and build the building.
"And when the building expanded, it prevented (sic) additional opportunities for people to work. Tax cuts matter. I'm going to spend some time talking about it," the president said.
He offered a pointed description of his job.
"My job is a decision-making job. And as a result, I make a lot of decisions," the president said.
He elaborated on that point later.
"I delegate to good people. I always tell Condi Rice, 'I want to remind you, Madam Secretary, who has the Ph.D. and who was the C student. And I want to remind you who the adviser is and who the president is.'
"I got a lot of Ph.D.-types and smart people around me who come into the Oval Office and say, 'Mr. President, here's what's on my mind.' And I listen carefully to their advice. But having gathered the device (sic), I decide, you know, I say, 'This is what we're going to do.' And it's 'Yes, sir, Mr. President.' And then we get after it, implement policy."
Bush, known for his impatience when fellow leaders rattle on, acknowledged he was doing the same himself in his opening remarks.

Members of the audience snap pictures of President Bush, front foreground, during his speech in an event sponsored by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007 in Lancaster, Pa.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais -- AP Photo
"I'll be glad to answer some questions from you if you got any," he said. "If not, I can keep on blowing hot air until the time runs out."
Asked about global warming, he gave a lengthy account of alternative fuels.
"I'm not quite through," he said near the end. "And it's a long answer, I'm sorry. It's called filibustering." After one answer about American views of the Iraq war, Bush said sheepishly: "I think that was your question, wasn't it? The answer was so long I lost track."
He had some fun with a woman who seemed slow on the draw when Bush called on her.
"You want a little chance to collect the thoughts, you know? I mean we're talking national TV here, you know?" he said.
"I actually wrote it down so I wouldn't get flustered," the woman said.
"It didn't work," Bush said.
Bush gave an upbeat assessment of being president, despite polls showing the public overwhelmingly disapproves of the job he's doing.
"I told somebody behind stage, this has been a joyous experience being the president," Bush said. "My buddies in Texas just simply don't think I'm telling them the truth. But it is."
He forgot that he had promised a question to a woman. "When you're getting over 60, sometimes your mind slips," said Bush, who is 61.
Finally, he decided he had said enough.
"And I got to go, I hate to tell you. You're paying me too much money to be sitting here talking."

(huh??? can anyone who speaks "drunk president" please translate this?)

here's your shadow government.

Cheney to address secret group

The conservative Council for National Policy will meet in downtown Salt Lake

if that doesn't say it all, i don't know what does. no press, no public, no leaks as to where or when they'll meet or what they'll talk about or who will be there. the second coup in preparation? it takes two to finish one, you know.

A man walks into a bookstore with his young son. The boy is
holding a quarter. Suddenly, the boy starts choking, going blue
in the face. The father realizes the boy has swallowed the
quarter and starts panicking, shouting for help.

A well dressed, attractive and serious looking woman in a blue
business suit is sitting at a coffee bar in the store reading a
newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. At the sound of the
commotion, she looks up, puts her coffee cup down, neatly
folds the newspaper and places it on the counter, gets up from
her seat and makes her way unhurried, across the bookstore.Reaching the boy, the woman carefully drops his pants, takes
hold of the boy's' testicles and starts to squeeze and twist
gently at first and then ever more firmly. After a few seconds
the boy convulses violently and coughs up the quarter, which
the woman deftly catches in her free hand.

Releasing the boy's testicles, the woman hands the coin to the
father and walks back to her seat in the coffee bar without
saying a word.As soon as he is sure that his son has suffered no ill effects,
the father rushes over to the woman and starts thanking her
saying, "I've never seen anybody do anything like that
before, it was fantastic. Are you a doctor?"
"No," the woman replied, "Divorce Attorney."

WTF???

sometimes there comes a darkness of the soul. at that moment one can no longer see the greater good that is the overlying fabric of a people. one cannot see the monuments created, the kindness passed on, the gleaming line that connects all.
sometimes it is merely the small insanity of one that affects you or me and no one else that tips us over into the abyss. an abyss that mocks our screams. and makes one wonder if screaming is even worth shouting about.
we have no control over the actions of others, nor should we. but when events conspire to affect our very lives for no better reason than another person has gone over the edge with no thought to how it may ripple out like a stone in a pool then i think that i may no longer be able to stand idly by.
what do i do, though? fly away? provoke a confrontation? assassinate from behind the curtain?
i just don't know.
i have watched many of those i know miscalculate their lives. they have watched me do the same. mostly, though, these events have not made me concerned for my own welfare, my own being.
now, however, i see something happening with someone i do not know as a friend or as a colleague, but the actions being undertaken have the ability to force me out of my current life as i know it in a catastrophic way.
so, fuck it. i'm going camping.

US civil rights hero Oliver Hill dies at 100

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A key fighter in the struggle to end racial segregation in US schools, the black civil rights lawyer Oliver Hill, died at the age of 100 on Sunday, local media reported.
He died at his home in Richmond, capital of the western state of Virginia, the city's Times Dispatch newspaper said.
Hill helped change US society by fighting in the courts to end segregation of blacks from whites in areas of public life such as voting rights, jury selection, access to school buses and employment protection, it said.
His triumph was his role in a series of lawsuits against segregated schools that led to a 1954 Supreme Court ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional.
In 1999 he received the presidential medal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Debt Of Service

Debt Of Service. probably you will be misled by that last sentence. unless you read the article it's linked to.

bushism of the week

this from a man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth:

After the Senate Finance Committee approved an expansion of the federal Children's Health Insurance Program to cover nearly 10 million kids, President Bush offered a strange rationale for threatening to veto it.
"People have access to health care in America," he told an audience in Cleveland. "After all, you just go to an emergency room."

have any of you ever been to an emergency room? i can guarantee you that president bush never has.

Just So You Know...

...our activities in and pertaining to iraq and afghanistan are now costing us $4,630 per second. or $12,000,000,000 per month.
in real terms i can understand it equals my annual salary in just under 8 seconds.
and they say only nature can make one feel small and insignificant.