Skrambled Ramblings: March 2005

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Skull of a Skeleton With Burning Cigarette

Cheers to Artistic Insanity

Thanks to Jenn See for pointing out that today is Vincent Van Gogh's birthday. I was trying to figure out why Google had this tripped out water color graphic up today, and I realized why after visiting her page. I decided to be thoroughly unoriginal and post one of Van Gogh's paintings above, because I think it looks cool. If you wish to read up on his life, here is an excellent history.

"I am not strictly speaking mad, for my mind is absolutely normal in the intervals, and even more so than before. But during the attacks it is terrible - and then I lose consciousness of everything. But that spurs me on to work and to seriousness, as a miner who is always in danger makes haste in what he does."--V.V.G.

"I tell you, the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."--V.V.G.

Update

It's been a few days since I've posted anything, so I figure I'd better get something up here before my friends start to worry. Things have been going pretty well for the most part. I've been sending out resumes and I've been getting quick responses. I have a phone interview on Friday, so we'll see how that goes.

I already had an interview today, and I actually got the job, but there might not be enough hours available for me to keep it. Depending on the work volume, I'd be working from 25-40 hours per week. The good thing is that I'd get full benefits even if I'm only working 25 hours per week. The other thing is that it's in government information services, so there is this crazy background check. Who knows what kind of dirt they might dig up on me.

I took the job because I want to stop worrying about being unemployed, but I'm going to keep searching in case I can get a better offer. Training for the job I just got won't be starting for a few weeks anways. There is still a chance that I'll get the one I interviewed for a few weeks ago, but they are really dragging their heels on the interview process. I've decided not to count on getting that.

So, since I've found a job and actually seem to be on the right track, I don't feel so guilty about blogging in my free time. I should be able to post more regularly from here on out. I'll try to return later with either a political rant or some strange news or something.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Batshit Crazy

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone. I'm down in Connecticut visiting the family at the moment. This afternoon I'll be going to my brother's place for dinner, which should be fun because I haven't seen my niece and nephew since Christmas. I don't have much time to write, but I wanted to at least post something up for the holiday.

I posted the picture of Insane Homer above as a reflection of my current state of mind. I just lost my job last week, so I'm kind of freaking out over here. I have no idea of what's going to happen this week. I may end up getting a call with the temp agency to go to work, but then again I might not. I just interviewed for a job a couple of weeks ago, but they won't be doing the second round of interviews for at least another week. I really hope I get it.

I had the option of going to the customer service department on a temporary basis, but I did that for a few months last summer and I hated it. People just shit all over you in that job. I encourage all of you to be kind to customer service reps on the phone. Most of them make very little money and they have to be a punching bag for angry customers all day. Plus, if you're nice to them, they'll be a lot more likely to pull strings for you to get what you want.

So, I am screwed. Being unemployed for a couple of weeks will fuck up my cash flow in a big way. Oh well, they say necessity is the mother of invention. I'm sure I'll figure something out, and that I'll eventually be much happier than I was in my old job. Once I find out if I got that job that I applied for (within the same company) and after I am safely away from this job, I'll tell you all more about the kind of crap I had to put up with on a daily basis in the Kafkaesque job that I just lost.

Okay, that's it for now. I'm going to try to keep posting faithfully, but I may be too busy job hunting to post as regularly as I have been. Of course, since I'll be unemployed I'll have a lot more time on my hands, but I think I'll feel guilty if I'm wasting time by surfing around the internet and blogging instead of looking for work. We'll just have to see what happens. Once again, Happy Easter!

Oh yeah, one more thing. I also wanted to post a poem. It's not related to Easter, or to anything else, but I like it, so I decided to put it up here. It's my blog, damn it, and I can post anything I want to. Maybe one of these days I'll write some poetry of my own, but for now I'm content to leave it to the experts. At any rate, here 'tis:

Chance Meeting
--by Conrad Aiken (1889-1973)

In the mazes of loitering people, the watchful and furtive,
The shadows of tree-trunks and shadows of leaves,
In the drowse of the sunlight, among the low voices,
I suddenly face you,

Your dark eyes return for a space from her who is with you,
They shine into mine with a sunlit desire,
They say an 'I love you, what star do you live on?'
They smile and then darken,

And silent, I answer 'You too--I have known you,--I love you!--'
And the shadows of tree-trunks and shadows of leaves
Interlace with low voices and footsteps and sunlight
To divide us forever.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Bush's Law

I don't have enough time to write much at moment, since I just got canned from my job today, but I wanted to post this section of the Advance Directives Act, which Bush signed as governor of Texas. The law allows physicians to remove a feeding tube from someone in the same position as Ms. Schiavo (of course, it includes considering the patient's inability to pay as a justification for removing it as well). Ummm...hypocisy anyone? Here is section 166.039 (emphasis added by me):

"§ 166.039. PROCEDURE WHEN PERSON HAS NOT EXECUTED OR
ISSUED A DIRECTIVE AND IS INCOMPETENT OR INCAPABLE OF
COMMUNICATION. (a) If an adult qualified patient has not
executed or issued a directive and is incompetent or otherwise
mentally or physically incapable of communication, the attending
physician and the patient's legal guardian or an agent under a
medical power of attorney may make a treatment decision that may
include a decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining
treatment from the patient.
(b) If the patient does not have a legal guardian or an agent
under a medical power of attorney, the attending physician and one
person, if available, from one of the following categories, in the
following priority, may make a treatment decision that may include
a decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment:
(1) the patient's spouse;
(2) the patient's reasonably available adult children;
(3) the patient's parents; or
(4) the patient's nearest living relative.

Gee, that's funny. I don't see the federal government listed there anywhere. Curious...
(thanks to Buzzflash for the pointing this out)

PANIC ATTACK!!!

Okay, so the world of the Skrambled One has been turned upside down once again. I'll write more later, but basically I just found out that my temp job will be ending on Friday and I won't have this position anymore. They just gave me two fucking days notice. It's not because of anything I did wrong, but because I've been filling in for a guy who's in the army and expected to get called up to serve in Iraq. He never got the call, and now they can't afford to have two of us here anymore.

It'll probably be a couple of weeks before I know anything about that job I interviewed for, but I am freaking out right now. I guess I'll have to get a temp job in the meantime, or to collect unemployment or something.

No time to write at the moment. I'll return later and expand upon the story.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Why Haloscan Sucks Ass

I just removed Haloscan comments from my blog. So, the bad news is that we can no longer view the comments left there for the last two weeks. The good news is that all of my old comments in the archive are visible once again.

I installed Haloscan because of Blogger's commenting issues, but I've decided I don't like it very much. You have to pay for premium service in order to have notifications sent to your email address that someone has left a comment. I refuse to pay any money for my blog, so that wasn't going to happen. It may not seem like a big deal, but I regularly get comments on old posts from months ago, and without the email notification I might never notice that one was left.

Another frustration was that Haloscan gives you the option of saving a backup of your old template before installing Haloscan. The link to revert to my old template disappeared, so in order to revert to Blogger comments I had to do some research and to paste code in myself, and remove all the Haloscan codes. Hopefully I didn't fuck my template up.

And lastly, there is no email support available for issues like the one I mentioned above. Just a crappy forum with snotty geeks giving useless replies. All in all, I would definitely not recommend Haloscan.

Phallic Proboscis

I don't have much time at the moment, but I wanted to offer my PITN early this week. Apparently, some keenly observant viewers noticed something out of the ordinary during a Saturday Night Live sketch from March 12 that featured David Spade playing Owen Wilson. In the sketch, Spade's nose was made up to look like a penis. Here is the screen grab and Here is where the story first appeared.

I shall return later if possible.

Monday, March 21, 2005

Celebrinsanity

I was watching MTV this morning (the only time of day you can actually catch some music), and I saw a Mariah Carey video. I thought to myself, "It's good to see she's back in business after her stay at the nuthouse." Well, she's still crazy as a loon. See this story.

Would someone please tell Mariah to get a hold of herself? And while you're at it, please tell her that she's just a washed up pop star trying to make a comeback, not royalty. Sheesh.

The Silent Treatment

Post temporarily removed for editorial purposes.
--Sorry, but this post has been temporarily removed. It shall return when tempers cool, and after I have resolved the situation. She has been known to check on my blog every now and then, and I'd rather have her hear any such thoughts from me first, rather than from reading it in my blog. I think it best to keep the blog out of the argument.

I still believe most of what I wrote, but it was written in a moment of passion. Remember that you're only hearing my side of the story in these relationship rants. Every time I write about her people end up saying, "What a bitch!" (well, actually, I think I might have called her that a couple of times, but that's not the point here). She's not actually pure evil, and I'm most certainly not perfect, as the post I had up might have indicated.

But I digress. It was useful to get those thoughts out of my head, and I intend to resolve the issues put forth in the previous post. It shall return when I feel like putting it back up. (It's my blog, damn it, and I can do whatever I want with it. So there!)

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Spring Is Here!

Yes, today is technically the first day of Spring. It'll probably be cold and crappy here for several more weeks, but that's okay. In two weeks we set the clocks ahead, which is a very good thing. It'll be nice to not have to drive home in the dark anymore.

At any rate, I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Spring, and to post a couple of poems to mark the change in season. I may return with a rant later tonight.

Spring Torrents
--by Sarah Teasdale

Will it always be like this until I am dead,
Every spring must I bear it all again
With the first red haze of the budding maple boughs,
And the first sweet-smelling rain?

Oh I am like a rock in the rising river
Where the flooded water breaks with a low call --
Like a rock that knows the cry of the waters
And cannot answer at all.

A light exists in spring
by Emily Dickinson

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.

It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Ummm...Where's My Blog?

Okay, Blogger replaced my blog with a black screen. I'm thinking it will reappear when I post this. Not too much going on here. I've been doing some serious Spring cleaning all day today. I'm usually pretty clean, but I've been slacking for a few weeks. I had some ferral dust bunnies running rampant.

I also managed to get out for a walk in Odiorne State Park (see pictures below), which is only about ten minutes away. I've been getting cabin fever from the long, cold winter and am itching for the start of Spring. It was pretty nice out, about 45°F, but it felt pretty warm.

Not to much else to say at the moment. I'm heading downtown with my roommate to see a band play tonight (or should I say, to hear a band play tonight? meh.)

Oh yeah, one more thing. Today is the second anniversary of the Iraq war. Around 18,000 dead Iraqis (or up to 100,000, depending on what you want to believe). Around 1,520 dead American soldiers. Dozens of sodiers from other countries. No weapons of mass destruction. No ties to Al Qaida. Abu Ghraib, systematic torture, no accountability. Oh yeah, and this.

A moment of silence please.

The Path

The Forest Through the Trees

Low Tide with Lobster Trap and Driftwood

Friday, March 18, 2005

Size Matters

I just found out that I need to change the name of my new daily feature "Sick and Twisted Story of the Day," as there is an annual cartoon festival in California which goes by the name of Sick and Twisted. My feature is obviously different and unrelated, but since I wish to be original I shall have to come up with a new name. Not today though, because I have a twisted story which also falls under the category of "Penises in the News."

Here is this week's installment. For those who don't feel like clicking the link (or in case the link doesn't work), allow me to summarize. A 30-year-old man from eastern Russia was suffering from genital hypolasia (small penis) for his entire life. Doctors performed an experimental procedure on him (in fact, it was the first time it was ever attempted).

They cut off his miniscule manhood and attached it to his forearm to grow new tissue. So, there he was, walking around with a dick on his arm (the article doesn't say how long it had to stay there). Then, after it had grown, they sucessfully reattached it in the proper place. He is now the proud owner of a 6.7 inch phallus. Unfortunately, the poor guy still has no sack, as he was born without one, but apparently he is having another operation soon to take care of that issue.

Isn't modern medicine a wonder to behold? Of course, they still don't have a cure for the common cold or athlete's foot, but oh well.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Portrait of the Skrambled One as a Somewhat Young Man

"The artist, like the God of the creation, remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails."

"The man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery."

-- James Joyce (1882–1941)

Ah, James Joyce. An Irishman of great genius indeed. I don't know how St. Patrick's Day became so sacred. Could it be the booze? Somehow, across the world, this became the international holiday that is the best excuse ever to tie one on during the work week. I have to be up in a few hours, and will likely be suffering the after-effects of the Irish Car Bombs that my roommate and I just consumed. I'm sure tomorrow will be a wonderful day (yeah, right).

Speaking of which, my roommate just stumbled into my room as I was writing the previous sentence. She mumbled something like, "sorry...ummm...I need to get to the bathroom..." Of course, the bathroom is in the opposite direction, which she should know after living here for a few years, but she realized her error before I could point out her mistake. I'm just glad she didn't squat in the middle of my room to relieve herself.

At any rate, I just wanted to post the Sick and Twisted Story of the Day before the day is over in a few minutes. Here it is. I don't think I can comment on this without offending even those of you who now know my sense of humor. Oh well, I think it speaks for itself.

(Okay, I will offer this: the definition of a merkin, which a friend of mine used to joke about during college, but I never believed was a real word until I saw it in the dictionary.)

That's it for now. Good night and Happy St. Paddy's Day.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Musk Oxen in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1002 Area

Sick and Twisted Story of the Day

I've decided to make an effort to search the web for various offbeat stories so I'll have something to write about other than politics. I can get pretty fired up about political matters, but it tends to get my blood pressure dangerously high. I think I need a bit of comic relief, even if it's something that's not necessarily amusing, but perhaps disturbing and wrong. We'll see how this goes, but I'm going to try to make it a daily feature: Sick and Twisted Story of the Day.

Here is my first installment **(I just realized registration is required for that. I'll paste the story below). It seems that someone in Lexington, Kentucky was a little angry about a recently imposed ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces. So, he did what any good citizen would do. He sent a letter to his public official expressing his outrage. However, he went one step further and also took a shit in the envelope before mailing it. I guess that's one way to get your point across (that is, if the point you're trying to make is that you're completely insane).

I would tend to agree that people are getting a little bit carried away with the anti-smoking agenda. Smokers are subjected to all sorts of prejudice and are treated like second class citizens in this country. But I don't really think it's asking a lot to prohibit people from smoking in the library or post office where non-smokers have to choke on the fumes. Besides, mailing shit to a public official is just uncalled for (unless maybe if that official lives on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C...hmmmm...that gives me an idea...).

At any rate, that's all I'm going to offer for commentary on that one. I've also decided to start posting "Penises in the News" at least once a week, simply because I have a juvenile sense of humor and way too much time on my hands. Nothing new to report at the moment, but stay tuned and I should have something good within the next couple of days.

** Here is the AP story from above:

Associated Press

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A harassment complaint has been filed with police after an aide found fecal matter in an envelope addressed to the vice mayor.

The envelope was one of two that contained harassing materials, according to a report filed Friday with Lexington police. The envelopes also contained a letter from someone complaining about the city's ban on smoking in enclosed public places.

Lexington police declined to comment about the contents of the letter, but Lt. James Curless said officers are investigating. Curless said police think both envelopes were sent by the same person.

The harassing letter - which had no return address - was discovered Friday by Lena Campbell, an aide who opens all of Vice Mayor Mike Scanlon's mail.

Council members routinely receive phone calls, letters, e-mails and faxes from Lexington residents upset about an issue or the way someone voted, but this communication crossed the line, Scanlon said.

"An angry letter is not that big a surprise," he said. "This was just a very, very sick person."

Here We Go Again

President Bush just announced Paul Wolfowitz as his pick for president of the World Bank. This neoconservative cocksucker was one of the prime architects of the war in Iraq. If anyone still believes the Bush regime is anything other than a gang of thugs, let this be further proof. It doesn't matter how much someone lies, fails, or just plain gets it wrong. As long as you are loyal to Bush, you will be promoted.

A few quotes:

"There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people…and on a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years…We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." [Source: House Committee on Appropriations Hearing on a Supplemental War Regulation, 3/27/03]

"Let's look at it simply. The most important difference between North Korea and Iraq is that economically, we just had no choice in Iraq. The country swims on a sea of oil." [From comments made at an Asian security summit in Singapore, May 2003}

"the decision to highlight weapons of mass destruction as the main justification for going to war in Iraq was taken for bureaucratic reasons...." [From an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, Spring 2003]

The good news is that European leaders have veto power over President Bush's pick for that position. Let's hope they utilize it.

That's all I have time for right now. I'll return later with something non-political.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

War Profiteering

In a post last week I brought up the issue of Halliburton (and subsidiary KBR) over-charging American taxpayers by over $61 million dollars for fuel it was importing into Iraq. I don't remember the last time I heard anyone mention this scandal, but all of a sudden it seems to be coming alive once again. Could it be I have an audience with some members of Congress? I doubt it, but my timing is impeccable.

Rep. Henry Waxman has just released excerpts from a classified Defense Department audit report showing that Halliburton over-charged American taxpayers by more than $108 million dollars. Here is the story. In one example, Halliburton charged $27.5 million dollars to import $87,100 worth of fuel. Is there any business in the world other than war-profiteering that can earn that kind of return?

This audit was completed last October, but was withheld from Congress and the public, most likely to keep it from influencing the election. Waxman received the report through "unofficial channels," because the Stalinist Bush regime and their lackeys in the Pentagon have refused to release the report. This letter from Waxman and Rep. John Dingell details the efforts which congress has made to gain access to the report and the lying and stonewalling conducted by the Bush regime to avoid releasing it.

Halliburton has received over $10 billion worth of no-bid contracts in the Iraq war. They have been screwing over both the American people and the Iraqi people for the last two and a half years, but the Bush administration will do nothing because it is their good friends at Dick Cheney's old company. This is an outrage on a monumental scale. The Bush regime doesn't feel that the American public has the right to know that we've been had.

Okay, I'm done ranting for now.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Situation Normal: All Fucked Up

Just a quick post for right now, it's been a long day. I had that job interview today that I've been waiting a month and a half for. It went okay I guess, but it could have been better. I was so freakin' nervous, which didn't help at all. Sweaty armpits, panic, stuttering, and some slow responses, but at least I managed not to say anything too stupid. I fucking hate job interviews.

The questions were all "situational interview" questions, such as "Tell me about a situation where you had a problem with a co-worker and what you did to resolve it." So I'm sitting there, thinking, for maybe ten minutes for each question (it was probably only about 20 seconds, but it felt much longer), and the silence was deafening. I tried to give vague answers, but then he would ask more ridiculous questions like, "What was the customer's name?"

AAAaaarrrrggghhh!!!!!!!

At any rate, I am more than qualified, I think I'm the best person for the job, and I do have the support of some people already working there. I just hope they don't base it on my performance in that interview (I am exagerating a bit, it wasn't that bad). We'll just have to see what happens.

Okay, I'm off to bed with a belly full of post-interview wine. Good night!

PS--Almost 2,000 visitors!!! (1800 of which were myself, but shutup about that;-)

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Bored Stiff

Okay, so I'm sitting at home doing nothing on a Saturday night. It's been snowing like crazy all day, but it seems to be slowing down. I planned on sitting home all night because of the weather, but now the snow seems be letting up and I have nothing to do. So I'm stuck here, bored out of my skull, drinking a screwdriver. It looks like this will be a "not much to write about" post.

This morning I scored two tickets to see U2 play in Boston in October. They're behind the stage, but I'm usually pretty good at sneaking into other sections when the seats aren't so good. I'm pretty excited about it. U2 is actually pretty good again. When I was ten years old I had all their albums, then I kind of stopped listening to them around Zooropa, when they got a little weird (imo). But I recently started listening to them again. At any rate, it should be a great show.

I also went out and spent a good portion of my tax return on clothes. I just found out yesterday that I'll have an interview on Monday for that job I applied for several weeks ago, so I needed a few things. Maybe they read my blog and saw that I was getting pissed off about the delay in getting an interview.

Other than that, not too much going on here. Since I'm bored I will likely be on the internet all night, so if I feel like going on a rant I may return. In the meantime, here is this week's installment of Penises in the News (I'm thinking of making it a regular feature). Enjoy!

Friday, March 11, 2005

I've Had Enough

So the comments have been utterly FUBAR for the last few days, as everyone knows. I've added Haloscan for comments instead, so we'll have to see how that works out. Apparently the old comments are no longer visible, but I do have them in my email box, and I'm pretty sure that they'll return if I decide to revert back to Blogger comments. If we decide we don't like Haloscan, I can always put it back to the way it was.

So, Blogger, I win. (as I write this, it occurs to me that Haloscan is probably the cause of the commenting issues, like maybe they started a virus to force everyone to get Haloscan.)

At any rate, I'd appreciate any feedback.

PS--I added the Google searchbar and the Technorati searchlet as well. The Technorati one isn't displaying properly, so I may soon remove it.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

A Little Much, but I Can Relate

I was just reading Boiling Mad and I decided that I just had to copy him and post this link, to a story about a man who chased a woman driving an SUV with a Bush-Cheney sticker. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, but I can understand. I can't help but sneer at such people when passing them on the highway.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that a guy I work with just put a Bush-Cheney sticker on his car a few weeks ago. It's possible that I just didn't notice before, but I'm almost positive that he just put it there. Here it is, over three months after the election, and he is putting a campaign sticker on his truck. If that isn't the epitome of fascism, I don't know what is.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

On an unrelated matter, Blogger is still being a pain in the ass, as everyone seems to realize already. If anyone feels compelled to comment on anything here, you can email me at Skrambled@gmail.com. I love getting emails and I will always respond (unless I suddenly become really really popular and receive thousands of emails a day, but I don't see that happening anytime soon). I would love to hear from some of my regular visitors who don't already email me.

Speaking of email, I received a link from Livewire which made me laugh so hard that I actually pissed my pants (well, not actually, but I thought I'd say that anyways). This was in reference to my post below regarding the humping of furniture. So, I give you "Furniture Porn" (WARNING: Turn down the sound if you're at work or near someone who might be offended).

That's it for now. I will likely be snowbound again this weekend, so I should be able to post more stuff (that is, if goddamn Blogger will let me.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Frustration on Various Levels

Aaaggh!!! Blogger is driving me nuts today. I've tried to comment on several people's blogs today, but all I get after hitting comments is "Can't find server." Is anyone else having trouble today? I just tried to get onto the comments screen on mine, and it worked, so I don't know what that's all about. I don't have too much to write about, at any rate. Just a few personal items.

Last night, after humping just about every piece of furniture in my apartment, I suddenly began to think about how badly I need a girlfriend. As I was making sweet love to the coffee maker, I said to myself, "Hmmm...I think something is missing from my life..." I think it must be mating season for the Skrambled One (as further indicated by my referring to myself in the third person). Yes, the Skrambled One needs to get him some, and soon. (By the way, I was JOKING about the furniture, lest any of you think I'm a deranged pervert or anything. My blow-up doll suits me just fine...heh heh...)

I'm sure I'll find someone soon, but not soon enough. There are a couple of young ladies I've been pursuing (hedging my bets), so we'll have to see how it all works out. As some of you may know, I had my heart ripped out of my chest and slammed against the wall last year (a la Bart Simpson in that episode with Sara Gilbert). So, I'm not really dying to get involved in an emotionally draining relationship again--at least not yet. Casual sex can be good, and that does manage to happen every so often in my life, but I prefer to have it regularly (read: multiple times per day) with one person that I care deeply about. I suppose casual sex will have to do until I find that person (well, that and my wonderful coffee maker).

So I've got blogger frustration, sexual frustration, and lastly, job frustration. The job I have right now isn't too bad. There's a lot that I like about it, but I need to be making a lot more money. I just applied for another position within the same company where I would be earning more, but they are moving so freakin' slowly on it. I applied for it about 5 weeks ago, and I'm still waiting to get an interview. I think there is a very strong chance that I will get it, but it takes forever for things to happen in this evil corporation. I know a woman in the same position I am applying for, and she said it took six months for them to finally hire her. It is really starting to piss me off. Hopefully it'll happen soon. The down side is I won't be able to post as extensively if I get it because I'll be much more busy.

Okay, that's it for now. I may return later if possible.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Another Lie Coming Undone?

"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
--An unnamed aide to George W. Bush, on the "reality-based community," in an interview with Ron Suskind for an October 11, 2004 article in the New York Times Magazine.

We've all come to accept as fact that Saddam Hussein was captured on December 13th, 2003. As the story goes, he was found hiding in a spider hole and gave up no resistance. Here is a story from December 14th in which Rumsfeld basically called Saddam a coward.

Now there is this story posted on Michael Moore's website in which a marine claims that the story was fabricated. Here is part of the story (originally from UPI):

"Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.

"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said.

"We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of Sudanese origin was killed," he said."

So, if we are to believe this marine's story, then Saddam was actually captured after being found at a house--not in a hole in the ground--on December 12th, after defending himself a fierce firefight. I remember thinking at the time that he was probably caught long before they announced his capture. I thought it possible that they then came up with a story which conveniently made Saddam look like a coward, and they announced his capture at a time that was politically advantageous for the Bush regime. I think I may know the reason for the timing.

I don't think I've heard anyone else mention this in relation to the capture of Saddam Hussein, so if you mention this to anyone, please give me credit for noticing. As reported in the New York Times, on December 10, 2003, the story broke that Halliburton was over-charging the United States for fuel it was importing from Kuwait. Later reports showed that Halliburton overcharged the US government (and the American taxpayers) by at least $61 millon. With the war going slowly and the violence continuing, people's attention was suddenly becoming fixed on Dick Cheney's old company, which has made billions of dollars off the war in Iraq. Halliburton was about to go down hard.

All of a sudden, Saddam was captured. Everyone forgot about Halliburton, and on December 30, 2003, the Pentagon quietly announced that it would no longer purchase fuel from Halliburton. (See this story from the Boston Globe.) Bush's approval ratings soared, and all of a sudden people began to feel that the war in Iraq might have been worth it, because something good finally happened. The whole issue of the $61 million just sort of disappeared.

Maybe I'm wrong, or paranoid, but this was what I thought at the time. That's why I remember the Halliburton scandal, which turned into a non-scandal. The way Rumsfeld and the Bush junta were just hammering away at how he was caught in a hole in the ground, and gave up without resistance made me skeptical. I didn't think he was caught the day before, as this marine indicated in this new story, but rather I thought they were holding Saddam for a long time prior to that, and the Halliburton fuel scandal was the reason for announcing his capture.

Perhaps those soldiers did find him in a hole in the ground, after he had been drugged up and stashed there by US authorities. That way, the Bush regime could control the story, and thus how history would remember his capture. If they wanted to take out Hussein, it wasn't enough to just capture him. They had to capture and humiliate him. Hussein encouraged his people to fight to the death, so if he was unwilling to fight to the death, it would look all the worse for him. Of course, I am just speculating here.

Will the mainstream media report the claims of this marine? Or will they sit by and allow the Bush cartel to write the history of the capture of Saddam Hussein? I suspect that if they report it at all, they won't take it seriously.

Shovelling Shit Against the Current

I haven't been ranting about politics as much as usual for the last couple of weeks, with a couple of exceptions. It isn't that there hasn't been anything in the news to piss me off, it's that there's been too much to focus on one topic. It's like standing in a river with tons of feces floating downstream, and trying to shovel the shit upriver against the current. It seems futile sometimes.

There is the bankruptcy bill which is about to become law that will make it nearly impossible for people whose lives have been destroyed by medical bills and job loss to start over, but will help credit card companies who are already making record profits by screwing over consumers. This is another bill with an Orwellian name: Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. These repuglicans have no shame whatsoever. There is no "abuse." Bankruptcy ruins your credit, and is not an easy way out of anything. The overwhelming majority of banruptcy cases are the result of catastrophic medical problems and job loss. This bill is nothing more than payback to the credit card companies who were among the largest donors of the repuglican party. Consumer protection my ass.

There is also the continuing violence in Iraq, which continues to creep towards civil war. Today there were 41 bodies found in Iraq, many of them children, and many of them headless. There was also another truck bombing in Baghdad. There is also the ongoing controversy on whether US forces intentionally killed an Italian jouranlist, and there is a new controversy brewing on a "friendly fire" incident in which a Bulgarian soldier was killed by US forces. There are plenty of Bush supporters out there who want to take credit for the democratic election in Iraq, but will they take the blame for all the bloodshed, or for the civil war which is destined to erupt? I think not.

Beelzebabe had a wonderful post yesterday ridiculing the nomination of neo-con chickenhawk John Bolton for ambassador to the United Nations. Bush gets back from a trip to Europe where he pledged to work with the international community, then immediately selects a man who hates the United Nations to be our representative there. Here is the late Senator Paul Wellstone quoting Bolton: "John Bolton has asserted . . . in 1994 . . . that 'there is no such thing as the United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world and that is the United States when its suits our interest and we can get others to go along.'" This is exactly what Bush continues to believe, that the United Nations is only useful when it does exactly and only what the US wants. When Bush was in Europe, he should have just dropped his pants, turned around, and started smacking his own ass while while yelling, "Kiss it, you bitches!"

Okay, I'm done ranting for now, but if I have time I may return later to vent some more frustation at the Bush regime.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Thank God for Women

Geez, I don't know where I'd be without Google. Did you know that today is the 95th International Women's Day? I had no idea until I went to Google and saw that they had a special graphic up in honor of it. Here is a brief early history of it. And here is a BBC story talking about some international events going on.

I was just thinking about the possible reasons for the inequality that has existed across the world, in most cultures throughout history. Sure, there have been case where women were in charge, and there have been some powerful women, but those cases tend to be the exception, rather than the rule. And how could this be, since women are clearly more intelligent?

As the Grateful Dead song goes:

"Let us put men and women together, see which one is smarter,
Some say men, but I say no, women got the men like a puppet show.

It ain't me it's the people that say, men are leading women astray,
I say, it's the women today, smarter than the men in every way,
That's right the women are smarter, the women are smarter that's right."

Some would argue that the inequality is rooted in the distant (and not so distant) past, when the physical strength of men was needed to survive difficult living conditions. Maybe it's because of the propensity of men to start and fight in wars, thus putting them in positions of power. But women can be strong too, and fierce. Just look at Survivor, where women regularly kick the crap out of men in physical challenges.

I'm sure it's a combination of factors, but more than anything I would say it is due to jealousy and the desire of men to posess the female body. In certain parts of the world, women can have acid thrown on their face for being unfaithful to their husbands, and there is little if any punishment for the men. In Elizabethan London (during the time of Shakespeare), there was a dunking booth on the banks of the River Thames where cuckholded men could dunk their unfaithful wives in the river as punishment, whereas men were allowed mistresses and were not punished for adultery.

Here is a link (WARNING: naked lady!) to a painting which really struck me when when I visited the Tate Modern in London last September. From the Tate's description: "The woman's face is scarred with a freggio, inflicted on Neapolitan women by their lovers to make them unattractive to others. It is a startling emblem of the potential violence underlying male possession of the female body."

Without getting into the violence involved, it does illustrate the lengths men will go to to have power over women. My last girlfriend was (is) incredibly beautiful. When we were together, I couldn't stand the thought of her even talking to another man, even on a friedship level. I'm pretty secure in myself, and I'm generally not the jealous type, but I couldn't help myself. I've never experienced such jealousy before, and I did manage to deal with it and not let it get in the way of the relationship, but it was quite intense nonetheless.

In closing, I'd just like to say that I believe the world would be a much better place if women were in control of the decision-making. The world needs the sort of sensiblity and logic that women have to offer, now more than ever.

(I may return to edit/add to this post later.)

Decisive? Never.

Please disregard the last post. I've changed my mind again, and made the header left-aligned. I like it both ways, but I've decided that I agree with those who find it more aesthetically pleasing on the left, with the title superimposed. I could be happier with the way the text appears over the image, but I'm having a tough time finding a color that stands out properly over the image. Meh. I give up, this is how it's going to stay.

I'll get back to writing normal posts at some point today, but don't be surprised if you see a few other random changes appearing, as I'll continue to play around with the template until I'm fully satisfied. Thanks again to everyone for the input.

(UPDATE at 4:00 on 3/8/05: On the advice on Livewire and Lohans, I have again gone back to having it centered. I can't seem to make up my mind on this, so we'll see how long this lasts.)

Monday, March 07, 2005

Centered It Is

Well, it seems all the votes are in, and it was a tie. I guess I'll have to be the tie-breaker and leave it centered. Many thanks to all for the input, and extra special thanks and a kiss to Fence for telling me how to change the font color in the header. I'll try it like this for a while, but I'll probably be playing around with it over the next few weeks.

One other thing I wanted to mention is that my friend just got Firefox, and I noticed a couple of things. First of all, the cursor effect (the fireworks/ confetti/whatever-you-want-to-call-it) doesn't work on it. Another thing is that the text above my Unky Mood picture doesn't display properly. So, those of you using Firefox are not getting the full experience. I'm all for saying fuck you to Bill Gates and his browser monopoly, but I guess I'm at his mercy on this one.

Okay, that's it for now. I'll return later with some hardcore ranting about something other than my self-absorbed obsession with the appearance of my blog. Thanks again to everyone.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Update!!!

So I've made some more changes, including blackening the margins, making the body wider, and a few other odds and ends. I also centered the header, but I can't decide if I like it better left-aligned. What do you guys think: keep it centered, or put it back to being left-aligned? I've posted a screen shot below for your reference.

Aligned left

I Am a Genius!!!

Okay, so I don't want to hear anything negative from you HTML savvy people. Everything I know about it I've learned on my own from playing around with it. So, let me just say, I feel really smart right now. I've changed the stupid header that this template came with to one more befitting. It was actually much easier to do than I thought it would be. Still, I just ran around doing the happy dance while singing the "I Am So Smart Song". For those who don't know (and why would you, considering that I just made it up), it goes:

"I am so smart,
I am so smart,
I am so FREAKIN' SMAAAART,
I am so smart."

(UPDATE: As Hansy was kind enough to point out, I must have accidentally plagiarized a Homer Simpson song above. Ooops. I say Doh! all the time too without even thinking about it.)

I'd like to change the color of the title within the header, but I couldn't figure out where I would put in the color code. I did manage to change the color of some of the headers to purplish, which wasn't what I was going for, but I think it looks better anyways.

At any rate, any feedback would be appreciated.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Alabama, You Scare Me

Well, no dildos for you if you live in Alabama. No vibrators. No ben wah balls. No pornos. No strippers. The state has decided that orgasms are morally reprehensible and that stores may not sell "any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs". Here is the story. Looks like you Alabaman ladies had better get used to your fingers, unless vibratory speakeasies start opening up.

The US Supreme Court refused to review, and thus allowed to stand, a federal court's decision that the state of Alabama can ban the sale of sex toys. Violation of the law can result in a fine of $10,000 dollars and a year in jail. $10,000 dollars for selling a vibrator!!! Holy crap, Alabama, and you wonder why the rest of the world thinks you are an ass-backwards shithole.

The majority of people there would claim to be conservative. I thought conservatives were supposed to be in favor of having less government intrusion in people's lives. In reality, they only want to keep government from interfering with businesses who fuck over workers, consumers, and the environment. As far as your personal life, and what goes on in the bedroom, they somehow feel that that is the government's business. Jesus Fucking Christ.

Masturbation is a good thing. I do it every day and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I can just hear the anti-abortion crowd right now: "But those sperm cells are potential babies! You're killing them!" Well, in that case I must be worse than a hundred Hitlers. Women who masturbate regularly have better control over their sexual urges , which might lead to fewer untintended pregnancies. I would think these rubes might consider that a good thing. It just isn't healthy to be walking around with all that pent-up sexual energy. Being horny leads to promiscuity, whereas being sexually satisfied through masturbation leads to peace of mind.

Sorry Alabama, but I hate to say it. You're fucked up. I think I'll start a black market sex toy business down there. I could stand on a street corner in Mobile with a trenchcoat on. When frustrated women walk by I could open it to reveal rows of sex toys, just like those shady watch dealers on the streets of New York City. "Wanna buy a toy?"

(Thanks to Mary for the picture.)

Sufficiently, Satisfactorily Satisfied

Okay, so I've done quite a bit of ranting lately, so I now feel the need to post something normal and non-political. I usually prefer to rant when something is eating at me, rather than just posting something negative and self-deprecating. Maybe some people find it therapeutic to air out all of their problems in their blogs, and it makes me feel better to read about other people with problems bigger than my own, but I've found that writing extensively on my own shortcomings only seems to make me focus on the negative. Plus, I'm not looking for sympathy.

So, without getting too deep into the various things that I was allowing to get to me for the last week or so, let me just say that I feel good right now. All of a sudden, I firmly believe that everything is going to work out in my favor, though perhaps not in the way I had imagained or wished. Sometimes the best we can hope for is not to get what we want, but to want what we get. Jesus, I think I've been watching too much VH1 and that goddamn Kelly Clarkson video. Meh. The point is, I feel good today.

Here is a Lewis Carroll poem, just for fun:

My Fancy
--by Lewis Carroll

I painted her a gushing thing,
With years perhaps a score;
A little thought to find they were
At least a dozen more;
My fancy gave her eyes of blue,
A curly, auburn head;
I came to find the blue a green
The auburn turned to red.

She boxed my ears this morning--
They tingled very much;
I own that I could wish her
A somewhat lighter touch;
And if you were to ask me how
Her charms might be improved,
I would not have them added to,
But just a few removed!

She has the bear's ethereal grace,
The bland hyena's laugh,
The footstep of the elephant,
The neck of the giraffe.
I love her still, believe me,
Though my heart its passion hides;
"She is all my fancy painted her,"
But, oh, how much besides!

That's it for now. I shall return later if possible.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

WARNING!!! RED ALERT!!! VAGUE NON-SPECIFIC TERROR THREAT!!! BE AFRAID!!!

The Department of Fear-Mongering and Distractions, also known as the Dept. of Homeland Security, has issued yet another vague, non-specific terror warning. In case you haven't noticed, these non-specific threats always seem to coincide with really bad news. In this case, the bad news is that as of yesterday, over 1,500 American troops have died in the war in Iraq. (Here are the stats, from a site I won't link to because I don't want government spooks tracing back to my link, though they could probably do it anyways: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm ).

Look, I'm not saying that there aren't terrorists out there who want to kill Americans. I don't have to be a CIA agent to know that bin Laden and Zarqawi (if he even exists) would like to attack American interests everywhere in the world. I'm just saying that it is fairly obvious that the Bush administration issues non-specific terror threats in order to spread fear and to divert people's attention from the real stories. What other purpose could these useless warnings serve, when no local and state security agencies can do anything in response to a non-specific warning.

I was watching CNN this morning. Instead of having a ten minute long tribute to the 1,508 soldiers who died in Iraq as of yesterday, they had a ten minute long segment talking about the non-specific terror threat. The entire report was a regurgitation of government press releases. CNN basically ends up reporting only what the White House wants them to, and nothing else. CNN.com doesn't even have a story on their page right now in tribute to the brave soldiers who lost their lives for a war started under false pretenses. By becoming a mouthpiece for the White House, CNN and the other cable news networks are complicit in this horrible war, and they bear almost as much reponsibility for all the deaths as Bush himself.

Of course, if there were an attack tomorrow, people would say to me, "You were wrong! You didn't believe there was a threat!" I am not saying there aren't terrorists and others who would like to attack America. There are threats, but these threats existed before September 11, 2001 as well. I would like to think that our government did everything they could to prevent attacks back then too, but perhaps they didn't do all they could have. At any rate, they didn't have to exploit people's fears in order to protect us, and they don't need to do it now. The only purpose it serves is to cow the American public into a state of fear and subservience.

Let's all think of the more than 1,500 American soldiers who died because of Bush's war. They all had names, families, hopes, dreams, and a future. They deserve to be remembered.

Skrambled Ramblings