The Iranian Hostage Issue

A U.S. soldier asked a question yesterday that I was personally wondering myself: where was the mothership of the vessel of the captured British sailors?

(On a side note, I know this is wrong, but I am so glad that the spotlight is off us for once. Hopefully our beloved president will use this time to make some graceful exit plans.)

Bush to Democrats: Bring it on?

So Bush is going to cave in and let Congress have a private chat with Karl Rove, Bush's personal savior, and the rest of the brood.

What caught me so much about that announcement was not so much the fact that Bush is going to allow this to take place, but his "bring it on" attitude. What I heard in this announcement was not an agreement between branches but a declaration of war between political parties. Bush has made it quite clear that the buck stops with him and that he is not going to take kindly to any meddling Congress members.

I am curious to see how the Bush administration will affect the future of the American presidency on the domestic level. I foresee some attempts to make sure that it is easier to keep a president under control in the future.

Stuck with Lame Duck

I wasn't going to comment on the State of the Union address because the only reason I could justify watching it this year is to see how many 9/11 references would find their way in the president's speech.

Actually, I think I still won't comment on it.

The speech is not what is causing me to lose sleep, it is the fact that the options involved in dealing with this rogue administration. Congress could cut funding, which would not only hurt troops already in Iraq but could come back and severely damage any chance of getting better leadership in 2008, and if they impeach Bush, that would make Trigger-Happy Cheney our Commander-in-Chief, which is frightening beyond words.

We're stuck. There is nothing else that Congress can legally do. How the hell did this happy? When Bush ran did someone tell him to pick a vampire for a VP so that it would guarantee that no one would try to get rid of him? It seems that the best Congress can do is let his reign peter out and make sure they have a tighter grip on the next prez.

America the Ignorant?

Keith Ellison, a convert to Islam, became the first Muslim member to be sworn into Congress. There is a big row over his decision to use the Quran (which was owned by Thomas Jefferson) in his swearing-in photo instead of a Bible. Several television and radio personalities are claiming that the Congressman's decision to acknowledge his faith will "embolden terrorists," etc. Is the land of the free and the home of the brave really that ignorant?

If we want to stay true to "American values," there would be no religious text used at all. The people that make the biggest row obviously slept through American National Government and all of their history courses as well. If anything, the Enlightenment period was not religious-friendly and it is suspected that Thomas Jefferson was a closet atheist based on some of his writings. The fact that this country exists at all stems from the greed of European colonialism and imperialism, not a love of God. I doubt very much that Jesus would look kindly on how Native Americans were deprived of their homeland and Africans were kidnapped and enslaved seeing that both of those were major issues for Jews before and during His lifetime.

This is the same level of ignorance that was portrayed when blacks and women began to actively participate in American government and society outside of their accepted roles. The only reason anyone thought the sky was falling is because of their own fears of change. Ellison was elected in a landslide thanks to the democratic process, and if anything, having a Muslim in our government projects the American values of freedom that so many of my Christian counterparts are so quick to forget.

The 3000th American soldier has died

His name was Dustin R. Donica. He was 22-years-old and a native of Spring, TX.

The U.S. is currently averaging 1,000 fatalities per year.

They did it

Sadaam Hussein was hanged about 20 minutes ago. I am never sorry to see anyone guilty of crimes against humanity face justice, but given the circus-like nature of this trial and the sentencing, I am more concerned about how many are going to die as a result of this decision.

Hussein Execution Acceleration

Sadaam Hussein just lost his 30-day chance to get his affairs in order before he is introduced to his maker. He is to be hanged no later than New Year's Eve, but it could be as early as Friday.

Is this supposed to be Dubya's way of starting the new year with a clean slate?

Gerald Ford Dies

1913 - 2006

$27.1 million for THIS?

There are a few things that I have made a lifelong goal, and one of is to develop a greater appreciation for art. My hope is that I will learn to see what makes certain paintings special.

Sometimes, however, I have to raise my hand in protest and call it as I see it.

I think that Christie's should be used as a litmus test to determine who does not need to have money. I was reading about how Warhol's painting of Mao Ze Dong sold for $17.4 million to a resident of Hong Kong. That did not surprise me.

When I saw that Willem de Kooning's Untitled XXV sold for $27.1 million, I choked on my coffee. There will always be art that does nothing for me, but $27.1 million for art that resembles the work of my 2-year-old niece is grounds for a public caning. I have often see paintings that literally took my breath taken away, but when I saw this, I very much wanted to find the buyer and slap the hell out of them on behalf of all of humankind.

Cartoon of the Day

Cartoon of the Day

Sheri's Weekly Rant - Sexualization of Anything Child-Related

I saw a video by Fergie (in my defense, I was plagued with insomnia and that was the first thing I saw when I turned on the television) and there is one part where she and some other women are dressed as Brownie Scouts--not even Girl Scouts, Brownie Scouts...the scout group for 6 - 8 year-old little girls:



Actual Brownie Scout:



The idea that anyone had a fantasy that involved a Brownie Scout (even if an adult woman is dressed in the costume) is extremely disturbing to me. Actually, an adult having a fantasy involving anything child-related is disturbing to me (including the "Naughty Schoolgirl" thing--it originates from images of minors).

Am I the only one that feels like this? When I saw that video, the first thing I felt was morbid disgust over the idea that the uniform of an organization for such young children was being sexualized.

Dr. Peter Singer on the Colbert Report

Part 1


Part 2

Pinochet is dead!

Washington Post article

Cartoon of the Day

Bolton throws in the towel!

The Democrats have the House and the Senate. Rumsfeld resigned and now Bolton has resigned...this is going to be the best Christmas ever!

Cartoon of the Day

Officially Anti-PETA

I do not believe in cruelty towards animals. The idea of killing an elephant just to get its tusks will always be appalling to me. My non-cruelty sentiment, however, was never strong enough to join PETA. I have usually been ambivalent about PETA in the past until I came across a site that promotes anti-PETA doctrine. I was a little skeptical about the claims they made about PETA doctrine (PETA being against seeing eye dogs, for example), so I went on the PETA site myself to investigate. The anti-PETA site was actually a little generous. PETA openly supports the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), which uses arson as a means of getting their word out. Quote:

"ALF 'raids' have given us proof of horrific cruelty that would not have otherwise been discovered or believed and have resulted in criminal charges’ being filed against laboratories for violations of the Animal Welfare Act."

That, however, is not what sent me down the path of anti-PETAness. PETA has taken it upon themselves to compare the plight of animal rights to the abolition of slavery, child abuse and even rape. And in their effort to vilify fur-wearing celebs, mocked their alleged eating disorders.

Check out their FAQ if you don't believe me.

And then there is this doozy from their FAQ section on the question of the humaneness of eating plants:

"Rather than eating animals, such as cows, who must consume 16 pounds of vegetation in order to convert them into 1 pound of flesh, you can save many more plants’ lives (and destroy less land) by eating vegetables directly."

Thank you, PETA, for clarifying yourself. I have made it my new mission in life to send a framed, poster-sized, autographed photo of myself eating a giant hamburger with no bun and steak fries (made from real steak) while wearing a full-length sable with a sable hat as I sit on a leather couch with a built-in wine glass holder made of deer antlers to the PETA HQ.

By the by, the anti-seeing eye dog claim is true.

War on Semantics

I was just watching MSNBC a bit ago and an analyst (at least I think she was one) was chastising the media for calling the violence in Iraq a "civil war." She went on to say that the media had "an agenda" and was deliberately "misleading the public" for their own gain.

Well, until someone else admits to it, I will refer to the violence as "civil strife."

Update: I have a link to the story now.