Skrambled Ramblings: May 2005

Om

Chance of Showers

Deadbeat Blogger

So, I did not visit blogfriends over the weekend in Vermont like I said I would. The house there has a dial-up internet connection, and I just don't have the patience to deal with it. I've posted a few pictures from VT below, and I may have some more to put up later. It was great to get away for a few days. Five of my best friends from CT came up, and we had a blast. Lots of food, beer, wine, liquor, jello shots, and any other booze we could get our hands on. Good times.

I realize that I've been absent from blogworld of late. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get back to blogging as often as I used to. I've been pretty stressed out with the new job, so when I get home I usually just feel like relaxing instead of sitting in front of my computer to write. I also feel like I'm wasting time that I could be using to study for this class that I'm taking.

Since I've been posting so infrequently, I actually entertained the idea of deleting my blog, as Retarius did recently, but that seems a bit drastic. I just feel like I've promised a hundred times that I'll return to daily blogging, but it doesn't seem to be happening. I hate breaking promises, so I end up feeling guilty. And what's the point of that? So, no more promises, except to say that I will write as often as I have the time or will to do so.

Fresh Air

Flowing

Cloud Shadows

Blue Bunting

Not Surprising

No time to post right now, just a link for anyone who's about to be stuck in holiday traffic. Here is the article.

From the article:
"The state of Rhode Island leads the nation in driver cluelessness, according to the survey. The average test score there was 77, just eight points above a failing grade. Those in neighboring Massachusetts were second worst and New Jersey, third worst."

I guess Rhode Island is a little surprising, but some of you may have heard my theory that Massachusetts drivers (or, Massholes) are trying to compete with New Jersey drivers for the title of "Worst Drivers in America."

(UPDATE: Here is a trip down memory lane.)

Quick Update

So, after my rant below, I am out of time for anything else. I've become a deadbeat blogger of late, rarely updating and not visiting other blogs as often as I like to. Time has been very hard to come by for the last few weeks, but I'm starting to adjust to the new job and I should be back to regular posting soon. I'll be stopping by and leaving comments with my blogfriends when I'm relaxing in Vermont for the holiday weekend.

Now I'm off to rest my weary brain. Good night.

I Thought So

Just wanted to post a link to this report from the ACLU (and to this story, where I originally heard this) (and, if you can follow the bouncing ball, this story). It seems that the plot is sickening--oh wait, I meant to say thickening. Recently declassified documents from the FBI detail abuse of the Koran, including flushing it down a toilet. The ACLU fought the federal government to release the documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

Shall we examine this from the "conspiracy" viewpoint? Yes, we shall. What is the government's interest in attacking Newsweek for having to retract a story? I said that I had a feeling that something else was going on with the adminitration's full frontal assault on Newsweek, blaming them for mobs of angry, rioting muslims. Now I am certain of it.

The administration knew damn well that the ACLU would be receving those documents. It's quite possible that the whole thing was carefully orchestrated, and that they attacked Newsweek to deflect some of the fallout from the release of the official documents. Perhaps the "anonymous source" was part of the plan. We'll never know, because that's the kind of thing you're not likely get in writing, even with a FOIA ruling.

People hear one story, then they hear it was false, then they hear it was true, then they don't know what to believe. That kind of thing makes people uncertain, and distrustful of the media. Also, when the real report comes out, the blow has already been softened. The right wing has been waging a campaign against mainstream media for years, so a campaign to manipulate the news wouldn't be surprising.

Who knows, maybe I'm wrong. I don't even know what to believe these days.

Thurl Ravenscroft, Rest In Peace.

The voice of Tony the Tiger died on Sunday (I know, I'm a little late. meh). I never heard his name before, and neither did most people reading this, I'm sure. I also never knew that the same voice that pitched breakfast cereal to me throughout my youth was the same voice that sang, "You're a mean one, Mister Grinch..."

A moment of silence please...

I started to wonder what's going to happen to Tony in future commercials . I remember what happened to Kermit when Jim Henson died. The new voice was just a cheap knock-off, and I think a part of my childhood died when I first heard the bastardized speech of the muppet imposter. However, I guess you only need so many takes of, "They're Grrrreat!" before you've got enough material to work with. Perhaps they won't need a new Tony.

Though Tony was just an evil advertising creation seared into my brain as a child, it would disturb me too much to hear a replacement. What can I say, I watch too much TV, way too much (obviously).

More Sneaky Bloginess

Well, I'm back for another stealth entry. Thanks to everyone for the good vibes and well wishes for my grandmother. She is back home from the hospital, and is doing much better, though she will need a few weeks to fully recover. The doctor said her state of confusion could have just been from delerium from the illness, so I feel a lot better about that.

Things are going well at work. I had my second real estate class the other night, and it was just as exciting as the first one (which wasn't very exciting at all). And no, there were no attractive single women there. I've decided that I really don't like the teacher. She seems like a nice lady and all, but she is an awful teacher. She's constantly wandering off the subject material and she doesn't do anything more than read right out of the book. I guess I don't really care that much though. I have to have 40 hours of classwork in order to get a license, so it will serve that purpose. I'll just have to read and study extra hard to make up for her lousy teaching skills.

Things are pretty slow today, so I may be able to return later with a rant of some sort. I also need to make my rounds and visit everyone else's blogs, which I haven't time to do for a few days. For now, I give you Penises in the News. I suspect the husband learned his lesson.

Stealth Blogging (Part II)

I'm attempting to sneak in another post from work. I just talked to my mom, and things aren't going as well as we hoped with my grandmother. She said she looks good, but she's a little confused, and the lab tests brought back some not-so-good results. So, she's going to be there for at least a few more days. I would just ask that everyone send some good vibes towards Hartford Hospital.

Other than that, things are going pretty well. I have my second real estate class tonight, and I'm hoping that it will be a bit more interesting than last week. I'm also hoping that there will be an attractive single lady in my age range there. It ain't easy to find date-worthy women when your an old man who's new in town (well, relatively old and somewhat new. meh).

Speaking of women, I'm finally feeling like I'm over that girl who broke my heart (yes, I know, I've said it before. This time I'm serious). She had a date the other night (well, if you consider a booty call a date, that is), and I really didn't care. Of course I was a little jealous, but I didn't let it consume me in the way that it used to. I think my self-esteem is much better now that I have a good job, so it doesn't bother me as much. Maybe it wasn't so much that I wanted her back as it was that I didn't want to be alone.

That's it for now, I don't want to get busted for blogging on the job.

Stop Making Sense

In a post a couple of days ago, I posted a link to a Reuters story which reported on muslims in the world being skeptical of the Newsweek retraction. At the top of the story the way it appears now, it says that a few paragraphs were added to include the White House response. This is how it read before it became infected with White House propaganda (the Cache knows all).

Since that response wasn't there when I included the link, I thought I would respond. Three paragraphs were added, so here they are (with my responses in bold).

The White House said the report based on an anonymous source had damaged the U.S. image overseas.
...Ummm, Okay, let me get this straight. A news story is what hurt the U.S. image overseas. WHAT THE FUCK?!? Do I even need to say it? Anyone with half a brain (which exludes most repuglicans) knows who damaged our image overseas, and those without half a brain (you know who) seem to be missing the part responsible for logic and reason.

In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the story had not met journalistic standards by relying on a single anonymous source "who could not personally substantiate the allegation that was made."
What if Newsweek relied on an anonymous source named "Curveball, " and then took his lies (along with other lies) and used that information to start war which has killed tens (or hundreds) of thousands of innocent Iraqis, 1,600 American soldiers, and hundreds of "cilvilian contractors"? McClellen feels journalism should have standards. What about government?

"The report has had serious consequences," McClellan said. "People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged."
"The actions of the Bush Administration have had serious consequences," Egghead said. "People have lost their lives. The image of the United States abroad has been damaged.

Just a Quick Word

Okay, so I'm sneaking in a quick blog entry while I'm at work. Shh!!! Don't tell anyone. Things are going okay. I found out last night that my grandmother is in the hospital for a few days with pneumonia. I was going to write about it last night, but I was too emotional, and I also thought it might be bad luck or something. I guess she's doing much better today, so I feel a lot better about it. I've learned so much from her about what it means to be a good person. I'm not ready for her to go, so she better pull through. She's a tough cookie though, so I'm optimistic that she'll be alright.

Never Mind

The big story for the mainstream media circus today is that Newsweek retracted a story which enflamed the muslim world. Apparently, an anonymous government source now says that he isn't sure where he saw the report stating that Korans were flushed down the toilet. Their retraction was, "Whoops, sorry about all those people who died. Our bad."

This thing reaks like "memogate" though. The right wing has been wanting to take Dan Rather out of commission since the Nixon administration. He was set up, plain and simple. Those forged documents came from somewhere. Somone wanted to discredit him, so they set him up. Sucessfully.

Never mind all the damning evidence in the story that was true and accurate, the story became "memogate" (which I'm using quotes for because I hardly consider it worth a "gate"). Of course, if it were a story about a draft-dodging democrat president who was absent from "mandatory" military training, you just know that Fox "news" and the conservative media machine would have been all over it.

I'm not saying that that Newsweek was necessarily set up, but there is something else going on here. Maybe the anonymous source was threatened. Maybe Newsweek was threatened. I don't know, so I'm not going to venture a guess. I'm will say that I am very skeptical, as are many other people in the world. At any rate, the right wing is seizing on this to distract people from the real issue.

Of course, I'm not exonerating Newsweek, Dan Rather, and mainstream media in America. Things are a dismal state of affairs, without question. In these cases and others, they were just sloppy. It's not about bias, it's about shoddy journalism. The right wing is flooding the blogosphere and beyond with denunciations of the "liberal" media right now. The story became Newsweek retracting a story because of one paragraph. Never mind all the horrific parts of the story that are utterly true, or all the other reports of ongoing abuse at Guantanamo Bay. If the media were liberal, the story would be the human rights abuses and other atrocities being commited in the name of spreading freedom and democracy.

(UPDATE: Check out this story from the US Department of State website. Army generals have said that the Newsweek story was not necessarily what ignited the political violence in Afghanistan. I think this justifies my suspicions. I'll bet a thousand dollars that the State Department's article doesn't get any coverage, but Newsweek's retraction will continue to be the focus. Any takers?)

Quick Update

On a personal note, I just wanted to post a quick update on the new job. I'm starting to get settled in and comfortable, and I'm continuing to have really positive feelings about it. The first couple of weeks of a new job are always tough, but things have been going smoothly. I've been getting really positive feedback from the higher-ups, and I've had the chance to impress them a few times with some tough writing projects. Since I'm actually happy with the job that I have, I'm feeling much better about life in general.

I've just been way too busy at work during the day to sneak in any blogging. It seems like days with free time to blog won't come often in this job. So, my posting will continue to be sporadic for a little while. I'll have to figure out how to work it into my schedule.

Humanity Lost

Here is a great collumn written by Naomi Klein for the Guardian (U.K.). Thanks to the lack of coverage by the Bush administration's stenographers (CNN, MSNBC, Fox "News", New York Times, etc.), most Americans are completely oblivious to the stain left on our nation by Guantanamo and by the Bush administration's torture policies.

I've been having a moral conflict of interest watching 24 this year, as the whole program seems to advocate the use of torture to extract information from suspected terrorists. I love the show, but it's sort of hard to accept what they're trying to do with respect to torture. The show is on Fox, and Fox "news" is always on people's televisions in the show, so I guess it isn't surprising.

I think most people would say that it would be okay to torture someone if it might stop a nuclear bomb going off, but the reality is that such doomsday scenarios are not the only reason that the US government is using torture. The outsourcing of torture through "extraordinary rendition", and the stories and pictures from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo reveal that torture has been systematic, and mostly for the purpose of inspiring fear in the Middle East and beyond.

Klein says, "This is torture's true purpose: to terrorise - not only the people in Guantánamo's cages and Syria's isolation cells but also, and more importantly, the broader community that hears about these abuses. Torture is a machine designed to break the will to resist - the individual prisoner's will and the collective will."

Between torture and other war crimes, America is guaranteed to have an abundance of enemies for at least a few hundred years. It's truly disturbing that most people in America don't even seem care about this. Where the fuck are the "moral values" people on this issue?

Burnt Out

Oh man, my brain is toast right now. Work has been very busy, and tonight I started real estate classes so I can get a license. I'm way too tired to post anything substantial right now, but I wanted to get something up here, as I'll be heading to CT tomorrow for my brother's bachelor party and won't be posting anything.

I'm off to bed now, but I thought I would mention to everyone that it's okay to build a snowman, but not if if you live in Wyoming and make it in the shape of a penis. Yeah, I know, it's not a real penis, but there haven't been any good stories for Penises in the News recently. This one almost made the cut (pun intended).

Another One Bites the Dust. I Hate You Blogger.

I wrote a wonderful, insightful post, and it took about an hour to write it. In it I revealed the secret to eternal happiness. The one goddamn time in the last six months that I didn't copy it to my clipboard before posting it, I got the above message. Now it's gone from my mind forever. grrr...

The Deranged Right Wing

I don't have much time to write at the moment, but I wanted to post a link to this story, found via Buzzflash. A few nights ago on Fox "news", an anti-abortion activist admitted to having sex with a mule. He didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it. He says that when you grow up on a farm, your first girlfriend is a mule. These are the sort of people that the Bush administration is pandering to. Ugh.

Literary Quiz

"Let me remind the remind the reader that I am only an experimenter. Do not set the least value on what I do, or the least discredit on what I do not, as if I pretended to settle anything as true or false. I unsettle all things. No facts to me are sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no Past at my back."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

I found the above quote in a Heath anthology while searching for some ideas for responses to gg's quiz, and I think it's an awesome quote. There are some good questions in the quiz, so I've been wanting to play along. Life has been making blogging somewhat difficult lately. So, I am going to take some time to post some answers.

I was looking through the anthology for ideas because I've just read so many damn books that it's hard to focus on one. I've only read a few novels over the last two years, as I've been more immersed in newspapers and at news sites on the internet (okay, fine, in television too). But I've always been a literary junkie above all else.

As an English major in college, there were times when I was reading three or four novels at a time (with less than two weeks to finish them and to write essays). It was a good education, but I feel like it sometimes sucked the enjoyment out of reading, as we read so much in so little time. But still, there were many books that had major impacts on my way of thinking.

At any rate, here is a stab at some responses:

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451...
which book do you want to be?

--I would say the Norton anthology, but girlgrey already said that was a copout. I think it would be a good answer, though. Why be one story when you could be a hundred? I'm a little perplexed by the question though. Does that mean what book I'd like to be alive in? 'Cuz that's a really tough question to answer.

When I was a kid I always thought it would be cool to be a mouse in one of the Rats of Nymm books. The ideas of little rodents driving around in cars made from matchboxes and thimbles really intrigued me when I was a kid.

But seriously though, I'd say the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Not because it's trendy, or because of the movies, but because it's just such an amazing story, and a world unto intelf.

~Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

There was something about Franny from Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger that I felt drawn to. I don't know what did it. She seemed so dark and disturbed. Since many of my girlfriends since seem to fit that description, I guess there must be something to it. Maybe that's also why I've always liked Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath so much...

~The last book you bought is...?

America, by the writers of the Daily Show. I told you I've been immersed in the news (fake news too).

~What are you currently reading?

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I know all the cool kids say that The Davinci Code (also by Dan Brown) is just pop culture trash, but I actually liked it. It isn't great on an artistic level, but there is a great story with some really good historical information. Many liberties were taken too, of course (including citing forged documents as historical evidence), but there are some solid facts there too. I like reading about secret societies like the Illuminati and the Vatican, and about conspiracies and such.

~Five books you’d take on a deserted island:

--The Castle by Franz Kafka, both in German and in the English translation. I don't speak German at all, but I figure I could learn if I was stranded on an island and had nothing else to do but read. There are some odd parallells between the narratives of my life and The Castle (with respect to career, especially). It's considered to be Kafka's most autobiographical work, and it was never finished (which seems to fit with the narrative as well).

-- I have to cheat and copy gg by saying an unabridged dictionary as well. Might as well try to improve my vocabulary while I'm stranded.

--The SAS Survival Encyclopedia. From a description found on the web:

"The author served 26 years with the Special Air Service (SAS) and was head of Survival training. It is dedicated to preparing you to survive outdoors, on land or sea, in any weather, anywhere in the world. Thousands of illustrations throughout. Full color illustrations depicting edible and poisonous plants, poisonous snakes and reptiles, dangerous insects, and even medical plants. From improvised shelters and weapons to navigation by stars to first aid. The most concise book ever published on survival."

I know the question is looking for a novel or something, but why not bring something useful?

--The Air Conditioned Nightmare by Henry Miller. I borrowed this book from my friend Mary over a year ago but still haven't started reading it.

--I'm going to have to copy gg again and say the Complete Works of Shakespeare, except I would want the version that I have which is published by Bevington. I like the end notes and introductory essays better in that one than in the Signet version.

Okay there are my responses. I'm sure I could come up with some better ones, and that they'll come to me long after I've written this, but this is the best my tired brain could come up with right now. There are a lot of books I'd like to mention, but couldn't find a way to work them into the repsonses (Slaughterhouse 5, 1984, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and The Importance of Being Earnest come to mind). I'm off to bed soon. *yawwwn*

Happy Mother's Day

(image from here)

"A woman has two smiles that an angel might envy, the smile that accepts a lover before words are uttered, and the smile that lights on the first born babe, and assures it of a mother's love."--Thomas Chandler Haliburton

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there (and I know that there are at least a few of you). I hope the family did something nice for you (and that you plan to punish them if they didn't ;-).

I have really been neglecting the blog this past week. I haven't had time to sit down and write anything remotely coherent before being distracted by something or other. I started a few posts over the last couple of days, but couldn't find the time to finish them. I saved them, so I'm hoping to be able to finish them soon. I had a few decent ideas for writing subjects.

I'm feeling more comfortable in the new job, so I should be less stressed out and exhausted once things start to flow (though I'll probably always be insanely busy in this job). Things are going really well so far. I had the chance to prove myself with some writing projects, which seemed to go over really well. So, I survived my first week there, relatively unscathed.

I was at the parent's place in CT this past weekend, which was okay I guess. I was too tired to be very sociable at the family get together though. I just got home a little while ago, but I'm heading back out for the night in a few minutes. I did promise girgrey that I'd post my responses the quiz, so I'm going to try to come back later, but it may have to wait until tomorrow.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Did you know that pomegranate juice is the new viagra?. There has to be some pj company I could buy stock in. . .

Quick Update

Oh man, I am exhausted. The new job is going well, but I have just been insanely busy today. I'm constantly juggling about twenty tasks for ten different people. I don't really mind though, as I have a really short attention span and get bored easily if I'm doing the same thing over and over. There is definitely a lot of variety, which I suppose is a good thing, but I don't have much blogging energy in me right now.

Girl Grey tagged me with a literary quiz, but I think I'm going to have to wait until this weekend to post my responses. My brain is too tired right now to come up with anything good. So, GG, if you're reading this, I promise I'll answer by Sunday or so.

I'm off to bed before I pass out on my keyboard. I might post something short tomorrow, but on Friday I've got a free ticket and bus trip to see a Red Sox game, courtesy of the new employer. I guess it's a once-a-year trip they do, so I started there just in time. I know I keep promising to start blogging regularly again, but I really think I should be able to get back into the habit soon enough.

"Es Mi Primer Dia"

I don't have a lot of time to post at the moment, but I wanted to get something up quickly, as I have a busy night of God of War for PS2, and 24 is on tonight as well. I don't play very many video games. In fact, I don't think I've turned my PS2 on since last November or so. But God of War is fucking crazy. It's got everything: good story line, great graphics, lots of bloodshed (and really really graphic bloodshed), and naked ladies. I highly recommend it to any game geeks out there.

I just returned from my first day at the new job. Things are off to a good start. The beginning of the day was pretty boring, just your average orientation stuff. It's all pretty overwhelming in the beginning, but things started to make sense by the end of the day. The hardest thing was trying to learn (and remember) people's names. I was never very good at that.

It seems I'll be diving right in though, which is a very good thing. I have a huge marketing package to write up, among other things. I've never done any writing like this, but I figure I should be able to pick up on it pretty quickly. I'm just glad I'll be putting my writing skills to use for once (instead of just using them in acts of sedition on my blog, which is usesful I suppose, but not profitable).

Okay, I'll try to return later if possible. Once I get settled in to this new job I should be back to posting regularly and to visiting everyone else's blogs.

Mission Not Accomplished

The above scene took place two years ago today. What was the mission again?

No time to post right now. I may return with a rant later if I have time, but it may have to wait until tomorrow.

Skrambled Ramblings

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Deadbeat Blogger

Monday, May 30, 2005

Friday, May 27, 2005

Not Surprising

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Quick Update

I Thought So

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Thurl Ravenscroft, Rest In Peace.

Monday, May 23, 2005

More Sneaky Bloginess

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Stealth Blogging (Part II)

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Stop Making Sense

Just a Quick Word

Monday, May 16, 2005

Never Mind

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Quick Update

Humanity Lost

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Burnt Out

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

The Deranged Right Wing

Monday, May 09, 2005

Literary Quiz

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Happy Mother's Day

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Quick Update

Monday, May 02, 2005

"Es Mi Primer Dia"

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Mission Not Accomplished

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