What Do You Want On Your Tombstone

I have an idea that may be controversial, and it may even seem unpatriotic, but if so, so be it. It is based on recent events involving the widow of one Patrick D. Steward, formerly of Nebraska, who was killed last year, on September 25, in Afghanistan, by a rocket propelled grenade. Stewart, a Sergeant, was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Pruple Heart.

Yet, his widow, Roberta, has run into a problem with the Pentagon. They have refused to honor his and his widows wishes to put on his grave at Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetary, a pentacle, a symbol of his Wiccan faith. As of now, the widow has refused to allow the erection of even a temporary marker.

She has objected to the Pentagons politices to no avail though she has received support, both from the Americans United For The Seperation of Church And State, and from Christianity Today magazine. It has been turned into a politcal issue at the behest of Bush, who has gone on record as oppossing the recognition of Wicca as a legitimate religion, and by the typical hordes of right wing conservative religious fanatics who for now make up arguably the most influential base of the Republican Party (at least they are influential to Bush, and the Neo-Cons that surround him, when it is convenient for the latter-usually and especially around election time).

My response is simple, straightforward, and to the point. Any Wiccan or Pagan or military age should henceforth refuse to volunteer for military service. If they are already in the military, they should leave when their time of enlistment expires. In the meantime, it would be helpful if a substantial number of them could get together and issue a press release to the effect that all Wiccans and Pagans will be discouraged from joining any branch of the armed services until this issue is addressed, and decided completley in our favor. No compromises.

In the meantime, all Pagans and Wiccans who are parents of military age sons and daughters should issue a similar statement to the effect that, again, until this issue is resoved satisfacotrily, to us, they will strongly discourage any of their sons or daughters from joining any branch of the US military.

It may do precpous little good, but it will still make a statement on behalf of the substantial number of Pagans who have served, who are currently serving, and who have, like Sergeant Stewart, given their lives in the service of their country. If we’re good enough to risk life and limb to serve, then the least we can get in return is to have our basic constitutional rights, including Freedom of Religion, respected. If we can’t get that much, you can all-well, go to hell.

The original story on BeliefNet.com can be found in the link at the post title.

A Brief But Concise View Of Franco-American Relations

I could have told Rufus a number of things about his trip to France that seem to have surprised him, but which I was quite aware of. For one thing, the food is excellent. I don’t think this really surprised him, to tell you the truth, I think he’s just wanting to rub it in. The other thing that surprised him was the general politeness and all around friendliness of the French.

It all begs the question, exactly where did the French derive this reputation for being such culturally elitist, smug and superior assholes? Before this question can be sufficently answered, it might help to look briefly at the history of FrancoAmerican relations.

Beginning shortly after the adoption of the US Constitution, things sort of got off to a bad foot, when President Washington sent the French ambassador packing, as he was rightly certain this gentleman aimed to draw us into the middleof their problems with Great Britian. The French were naturally antagonized at this, and considered us ingrates, as they had after all been instrumental in securing our victory agaisnt the British to begin with.

But Washington was adamant, he would pursue a policy of neutrality in world affairs to as much an extent as possible. In fact, this is one of the reasons he is rightly considered among our greatest Presidents. This was a policy which governed American foreign policy for more than a century, and truthfully, it would be one we would be well advised to return to, in my view. But the French were understandably, perhaps, perturbed, and this lead to, during the Adams Administration, the onset of the notorious spy scandal known as the X,Y, Z affair. It also was a factor in the formulation of the disastrous Alien And Sedition Act, and helped to bring about the end of Adams Presidency after one term.

By the way, it should be noted that in addition to appearring ungrateful, the French were actually doubly annoyed in that their involvement with the Revolutionary War was at the behest not of the people of the nation, but of it’s now deposed and summarrily executed monarchy. So as you can see, more and more the seeds are being sown for an ever bigger headache.

This was temporarily alleviated by Thomas Jeffersons purchase of the Lousiana Territory from Napoleon, but this temporary cure proved in the long run an even greater agitation. Not only did the French feel they had been given a raw deal, ultimately, in this agreement, but they did not benefit from it in the least. In fact, it added to their sufferrings, as Napoleon used the money from this deal with Jefferson primarily to fund his war of aggression which ended ultimately in the humiliating defeat at Waterloo.

The French, it seemed, could not win for loosing, and throughout the next century they must have felt that the US was some kind of a curse on their national pride and dignity. So hard was feelings of the French toward the US in the earliest days that one of their noted philosophers made the statemnent, one of my favorite sayings (just due to it’s cleverness) which I here paraphrase: “America is the only nation in the history of the world that has gone from barbarity straight into decadence, without the usual intervening period of civilization.”

But we got along, somewhat, the highlight of our relationship being the presentation by the French governemnt of the gift of the Statue of Liberty. But even here, I imagine that quite a few secretly wondered that the French were only too glad to give to us, their tired, their poor. If so, this as well backfired, as US immigration policy at the time, though controversial (yet please note, it was reasoned and controlled) proved to be a massive brain drain on Europe. The US was riding ever higher, from the vantage point of our European cousins.

By the time we saved the French’s asses, first in World War I, then again in World War II, they must have been secretly thinking, “it’s about time”.

Still, I have to think the French, the vast majority of them, were genuinely grateful for our aid (what ones of them weren’t actual Nazi collaborators, anyway), but relations quickly soured. The question remains, why?

I have to blame the phenomenon of the “Ugly American”, that tourist who travelled the continent fully expected that he would be lavished, and kowtowed to. Remember, in the early days of American tourism follwing World War II, it wasn’t your average American who got the chance to travel abroad, but rarely. The vast majority of them were high minded socialites and business people with a fucking attitude. They were the ones with the superiority complex,and this offended the obviously prideful French, which would only be natural.

Exceptions to this rule of the travelling class would be the American soldier stationed overseas, which may have aggravated an already delicate situation. Show me a family who likes to see their women folk looked at as the type that can be easily fucked for a chocolate bar and a pair of nylons, and I’ll show you a rare breed of individuals, whether they be French or any other nationality.

So yes, the French can be hostile to Ameircans, just as they can be gracous and respectful. It all depends really, in most cases, on the face you yourself present to them. That’s the same way it is actually with all people of the world you might meet in your daily travels. The French aren’t any different. We just have a longer, more troubled hisotry.

The Great Snake Goddess Of Minoa

I am a little bit late on the draw, it seems, when it comes to authenticating the legitimacey of my new avatar, insofar as it being a valid representation of my path of what I like to call, Hellenic Wicca. The term for my path is probably as valid as the avatar, in other words, not very. Of course, I never utilized this term out of a desire to be deceptive about my beliefs. What would be the point? It just seemed easier, far less complicated, to refer to myself as a Hellenic Wiccan, than to explain that I follow a modern version of Hellenic Paganism that has a heavy Wiccan influence. Thus Hellenic Wicca, which isn’t perfectly accurrate, but it sounds good, and close enough. I also like to at times refer to my religion as Hellenism, which historicaly, and accurrately, is the culture of ancient Hellenic Greece, the ancient Greek religions of which are only one part, though an important an integral one.

In reality, culturally I am at best a diamond in the rough, and it seems to be getting rougher every day, these days. Yet, I do definitely try to keep abreast of cultural news, including discoveries in the field of archaeology. Alas, I am a lazy blogger, and an even lazier researcher, and so, even though I have the URL for a very good archaeology site on the sidebar of this blog, which I urge you to check out, I myself have been lax at keeping up on it, and so missed this little bit of information.

The “snake goddess” that I have chosen as my avatar, suppossedly an ancient artifact that was dug up on the island of Crete, was believed at one time to have been an ancient religious artifact( possibly a votary, depicting either a goddess or a priestess, a snake in each upward stretched arm), from the Minoan Period, and thus predating not only ancient Classical Greek, or Achaean, culture, but even Mychaenaean civilization as well.

Alas, come to find out, it, like a good many other artifacts, was a fraud. Not only were they circulated in response to a demand for Minoan artifacts at about the beginning of the last century, but it has been known for some time they were frauds. I felt a degree of sadness upon learning this, and not a little embarrassment.

On te other hand, the good news is, even though these artifacts were themselves frauds, they were in fact based on legitimate artifacts that were in fact discovered and authenticated. So yes, Virginia, there was, after all, a snake goddess.

And so, whether mine is the fake or the genuine article, I have elected to keep her. I have grown quite fond of her, after all, and moreover, when all is said and done, when it comes to the realms of religion, magic, and mythology, who is to say what is real, what is fake, what is symbolic, and what is just wishful thinking.

Ancient Dirt

Why do we put up with the UN anyway. Bolton is right, face it, they are an unwieldy, overly bureacratic, corrupt organization that has as it’s sole purpose the providing of a safe haven for would be US saboteurs and foreign racketeers. That is just my opinion, of course, but I think it is well grounded. They should get out of New York, or they should pay rent to the city. And, by the way, their traffic tickets and other violations.

But the reason for this post isn’t so much the presence of the UN in New York or America, or even it’s all around inefficiency and arrogance, and corruption. Let’s just take on for now the subject of the stupidity of it’s various arms, and let’s start off with UNESCO.

This arm of the UN has recently involved itself with an archaeological issue, involving the beleaguered nation of Bosnia, in which is to be seen the purported discovery of what has been said to be perhaps the oldest pyramid found to date.

Actually, so far as has been determined by legitimate researchers, it ain’t nothing but a fucking hill, and it’s oddly pyramid shape is completely natural. That’s not all. What do I mean by that? Exactly what I said, that’s not all, there are more hillsides of pretty much the same make-up and geometric shape, which, I repeat, is vaquely pyramid shaped.

The proponents of this theory have even gone so far as to say that the make-up of the hill-dirt, clay, and rocks-is consistent with the pyramids, in that the same kind of subsances in the clay was used as a binding cement in a lot of the older pyramids. This, by the way, is an outright lie. The binding that was used as filling between the blocks of the pyramids were a type of specifically manufactured material utilizing an exact mineral compound. What is in the Bosnian pyramids are, again, perectly naturally formed dirt, rocks, and clay.

To the surprise of no legitimate archaeologists or scholars, there have to date been no artifacts discovered at the site. Nor is there likely to be. Of course, there is always the possibility an old vase or drinking implement, or tool, or weapon fragment from a long ago fought and forgotten battle, could conceivably be found, and I have no doubt that, in the event this were to occur, it would be heralded by the proponents of this most ancient of pyramids theory as proof of what has been called an “advanced” civilization.

Yes, you heard it right. UNESCO, an arm of the UN, has poured it’s weight, finances, and resources into securing and researching this site where there may have supposedly existed an advanced civilization-before the dawn of known recorded history. In other words, it’s a boondoggle, an opportunity and excuse for more funding.

Of course, the original proponent of this theory is standing by his original assessment, just as he does his earlier pronouncement involving the Maya-that they are the descendants of an extraterrestrial civilization.

Grist For The Mills

A new alliance between The Sierra Club and the United Steel Workers might hold some actual promise of potential mutual accomplishment, provided they can hold together. But this seems to be one example of an alliance that mght extend beyond the board rooms, and trickle down into the rank and file membership, with little dissent.

The Sierra Club, for it’s part, agrees to support increases in wages and benefits packages for workers, while the Steel Workers agrees to support the development and advancement of clean technologies, on the grounds that in the long run this will actually lead to inceased efficency and new and more jobs, and better jobs. Of course, this would undoubtedly be good for the environemnt.

The Sierra Club also agrees to support the Steel Workers in promoting Fair Trade, as oppossed ot the Free Trade fiasco that has been so harmful to the livelihoods of union workers across America.

Amazingly, one of the first good things George W. Bush did as president, on the domestic front, was to impose tariffs on foreign steel, which was being dumped here in America at prices American companies could not hope to compete with. The tariff evened out the playing field. True, some American businesses were hurt by the move, as they were in some cases paying a higher price for steel than had been the case under the old new system. This provided a pretext for him to end the tariffs, but of course the true reason, the only reason, was that the World Trade Organization declared Bush’s steel tariffs to be illegal. And frankly, he needed the WTO, in other areas, and so could not afford to alienate them any more than he already had.

Therefore, the United Steel Workers, though given an all too brief reprieve, ended up royally screwed. But at least they got a little kiss.

Now, with the Sierra Club, they have hopefully met their true soul mates. I will try to be hopeful, at least. We will see what they produce in the long term. Weddings and honeymoons, after all, are incidental pleasantries to the main fucntion of a marriage. In most cases, the children of a union are a more accurrate reflection of the two partners that produce them.

A link to Grist Magazine, where you can read the original article and other cool environemntal articles, can be found in the post title.

Weighty Matters

Mississippi governor Haley Barbour has recently initiated a program, or a study, aimed at encouraging physical fitness among his states residents, which has been named one of the worse states in the United States for records of obesity. With the attenant health problems obesity often leads to, this is a commendable goal on his part, though some people mght wonder if Mr. Barbour is the appropriate person to make the case. But I guess it’s a lot like one of those “only Richard Nixon could go to China” scenarios.

At any rate, it will be interesting to see what his approach might be. He has already been accussed of hypocrisy, of deviating from the Republican, conservative party stance that advocates non-interference in private choices, in personal repsonsibilty, in freedom from regualation of business.

Of course, I personally think his approach might be a somewhat different one than litigation through class action lawsuits aimed at raking in billions of dollars from the fast food industry, enforcing excessively oppressive regulations, enforced inclusions of health alternatives while penalizing what is deemed non-healthy with greater and greater taxes, etc., and all the other nonsense that has been perpetrated on the tobacco industry-and smokers- over the last decade.

I could come up wth a few ideas myself that might be as good or better than anything the Democrats or Republicans might envision. For example, why not put up a fucking weight scale right in front of the counter of every fast food joint? This would be accompanied by a height indicator, and a computer averaging tabulator. Any customer that went into the place would be obliged to stand on the scales. For every pound over what the computer suggests shoud be his or her average, an extra quarter per dollar, per extra pound, would be added to the price.

In the case of a real super fat ass, discounts could be offerred for healthy alternative choices.

The weight computer could be made to make noises. Razz beries, chortles, derisive laughter of various sorts, or simply the agonizing cry, “helllllllp, get this fat fuckhead off of me.”

Naturally, this would meet with objection by the fast food industry. After all, many will opt not to suffer this embarrassment, and thus will take their business elsewhere. But at least their beleaquered, overworked employees would get a few jollies out of it.

Bluegrass Report

Several Kentuckly Blogs, notably this one called BluegrassReports.org, have reportedly been blocked from access by Kentucky State computers, and it so happens that all of these blogs are critical of Governor Ernie Fletcher and his Administration. One notable blog that is on theFletcher blacklist is BluegrassReports.org, but it is by no means the only one.

Aside from the obvious censorship issues, the question should be raised, since when do Kentucky State employees have the time to sit around reading blogs? Don’t they have supposedly important work to do? Shouldn’t this be construed as, more or less, a waste of state taxpayers money? Or should it be considered that there are, simply, way too many Kentucky State employees, and thus this bloated payroll is, in addition to also being a waste of tax money, an obvious indication of political patronage in state hiring.

But the most important point to be made about this story, is that it points out the rampant paranoia that saturates the Fletcher Administration. Obviously, there aren’t that many state employees who spend that much time on state time reading blogs. Assumming there are an appreciable percentage that have the time to do so-which I don’t doubt- how many actually do, at least for that long a time. Most of them probably prefer to spend their free time, which is in a good many cases probably close to half the work day or more, chit chatting with co-workers, checking up on their spouses, children, or lovers, or,if on the computer, checking out the humor and sports sites. Not reading a significant number of blogs. I would put the percentage of state workers who engage in this activity, for any appreciable amount of time, at well under one per cent.

This may well not have anything to do with Fletcher personally, but is more than likely an activity initiated by an overzealous department supervisor. If Fletcher is involved in this, he has indeed gone off the deep end, and this would be substantial proof of that.

Sneaking Past Borders

Two women, sisters, were recently drugged at a London Kentucky area Mexican restaurant, the El Azul Grande 5, upon which they were taken to an apartment, by workers at the restaurant, who proceeded to rape them. The one woman sufficiently pulled herself together and got away while in the process of being assaulted by a third person.

When her and her sister made their escape, they understandably called the police. In the course of the investigation, there was a finding of cocaine at the premises of the apartment, and a further finding which lead to the arrest of eleven illegal immigrants, all of whom either worked at, or were associated in some way with, the Mexican restaurant in question.

The restaurant owner, who has temporarily closed his establishment for “repairs”, has stated he knew of nothing untoward that occurred on the premises of his business. He went on to say that, if any of his workers were guilty of this atrocous act, they would no longer be working for him.

Of course, this begs the qustion, since these suspects who were detained by police-all eleven of them-were illegal immigrants:

WHAT THE FUCK WERE THEY DOING WORKING FOR HIM TO BEGIN WITH?

E-Bays Landmark Sale

Tony Straub, the present owner of the historical landmark The Dayton Arcade, of the city of Dayton Ohio, has gone all out to find a buyer for the five building complex which is situated between Third, Fourth, Main, and Ludon Streets in downtown Dayton. He has offerred it for sale on E-Bay, at an asking price of four million dollars. He has suggested that the site would be perfect for a casino. And it probably would, with slight renovation, if it weren’t for the fact that, as of now, casino gambling is yet illegal in the state of Ohio.

Straub explained that he was considering the future possibilities. Actually, whoever buys this complex should be made aware of more than just the present illegality of Mr. Straubs proposal. The fact is, there is a reason he is anxious to divest himself of his holdings in this, what should be considered a prime piece of real estate.

And that is, there is little he can do with it. He can’t do any kind of renovation that would compromise the historical integrity of the landmark which goes vack to the beginning of the last century . He certainly can’t tear it down and put up, say, a parking lot, or a mall. Yet, as attractive as the place is, he can’t find investors willing to locate businesses into the area, due to the exorbitant crime rate for a city of this size.

Dayton is one of those cities that are cyclical i nature, and seems to move in extremes. For a time, it will be a boom town, with many business and job opportunities. Then, it will fall into a kind of depression, with people not being able to get out of the place fast enough. Now, it has moved back into this latter cycle. And, as a result, Dayton is loosing population-again.

The politicians who run the area have the final say as to what happens to what for now might as well be the Taj Mahal of Dayton Ohio-a very attractive tomb. A historic landmark, but of little value otherwise, presently. And they admirably insist on preserving it, but seemingly to no avail, as these are also the people that conceivably could, yet will not, address the ever growing and obtrusive crime rate with which the city is afflicted. Whether this is in large part due to political correctness and to fears of being labelled as racists, or whatever the reason, the result stands in dowtown Dayton Ohio.

An empty building, an historic landmark, which stands empty, and unused, and for the most part, unvisited.

The Brave New World Of Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking must have been left by his wife out in the sun for way too long, and due to her cosntant and persistent abuse, which seems to have been of the most sadistic level, he might have been pushed off the deep end. Among the many of his amazing utterrances is the notion that, if mankind is to survive, he must of necessity relocate, to the stars, and populate other worlds, other planets.

Now, it is one thing to suggest that mankind should conceivably one day spread out throughout our solar system, and beyond. But his urgings seem to contain an elitist streak. Just who will be saved? Who will be chosen to enter the several arcs required, which certainly will be unable to save us all?

Hawkings detractors, for the most part, don’t seem to be any less elitist. They insist the only viable option for maintaining the survival of the human race, is by establishing a refuge-under the Antartic.

Interesting. Of course, there will be a required presence of many kinds of skilled workers and professionals, if the new mankind has any chance of continuing the race with any semblance of continuity of advancement and culture. And of course there will have to be some unskilled laborers to not only build the place, but to do the hard everyday work of keeping it running.

And I’m sure it is a worthwhile idea, if worse comes to worse, as is Mr. Hawkings idea’. But to insist that this is the only way to save humanity, while it might eventually turn out to be true, also seems rather defeatist. For one thing, just who will be left behind. I don’t hold out much hopes of acquiring a ticket, personally. And so, while these plans are being discussed, debated, and formulated, it might be a worthwhile pastime to consider just what might be a viable, reasonable way to save all of us, that is to say the mass of humanity, by way of saving the planet itself. You know, before it just might get to be too late.

More to the point, and what is the ultimate insult to add to the injury, is that I have no doubt the first people on board the arc will be the very ones who, by their obstinance and greed, and in some cases plain evil, will have been the ones to have doomed the mass of us.

Special thanks goes to Zandperl at Modern Science.

The Lay Of Bore

Norway is now the proud originator and owner of a food storage vault that it feels might be the salvation of mankind in the event of a violent catastrophe of earth shatterring proportions. Having buildt what has been referred to as the “Doomsday Vault”, which it has dug into a frozen mountainside on the island of Svalbard, way up into the Arctic Circle, it then received the cooperation of the countries of Denamrk, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, the Prime Ministers of which, along with Norways, participated in the ceremony of helping to lay the cornerstone.

As of now, more than two hundred nations have joined in the project. Only it’s not exactly food that is being kept in cold storage, but seeds, for the growth of food bearing plants. Although Norway technically owns the right to the vault, nations who contribute seeds remian the owners of their contributions, which are to be packaged in foil, and thus kept in sub-zero temperatures.

Norway has left nothing to chance. In the case of would be sabotage, or theft, the vault is guarded by an electronic security system which would make it virtually impenetrable, even if someone managed to make it past the hordes of polar bears which frequent the area.

And, should the artificially maintained temperature fail, the consistency of the normal temperature, due to the presence of the permafrost, would keep the site functioning for years. In fact, it is estimated that the stored seeds will be good for at least a couple of hundred years. Maybe even a couple of thousand.

Then, like the god Bore, ancestral founder of the Aesir, they can be taken out of the ice, if the need arises, and thus used to, hopefully, refoliate the earth, though as of this time non-food plants are not included in the inventory.

The only other thing that seems to be missing is Ymirs’ cow.

Over And Out

Sometime today, North Korea is scheduled to conduct a test of a new missile which, if succesful, will have the capabilities of reaching the interior of the continental United States. Although several nations of the world community have strenuosly objected to this brash move, notably Japan and the US, Kim Jung Il seems to be in a bind, as evidently he has been pushed into conducting these tests by high ranking membersof his military. This seems to suggest that his hold on power might not be as secure as most seem to think.

Assumming the test are carried out on schedule, what will be the result. Will it lead to the bilateral North Korea/United States negotiations North Korea has been pushing for? Or,will the world community, lead by the US, stand form in it’s threats of further diplomatic sanctions? Could it lead instead to a lessenning of existing sanctions?

Iran will certainly be watching. So will the rest of the world.

Update: As of now, so far as I know, or have last heard, the test has yet to be conducted. Maybe it's been delayed. Maybe it's been halted.

Maybe we'll never ever really know.

Happy Litha.

Finally, My Blogroll

I never thought I would ever get around to it, but I finally done it, added a Blogroll to this site. I know it seems like I’ve been talking about it forever, to the point where I would almost be willing to bet that some people here and there, when I talked about it, would probably start rolling their eyes.

Still, like I explained, I wanted to take some time, and made sure I put on nothing but quality sites, which means I required myself to traverse the Internet until I found what ended up being more than I actually thought I would find, to be honest. In fact, I didn’t put all the good sites up that I found, though I might add some more later.

To begin with, I wanted a balance of political ideology, and at the same time I wanted sites that went beyond mere political discourse. Being a pagan myself, naturaly I wanted to find some worthwhile pagan blogs, and here again, I found more than I thought I would.

In addition to quality, I wanted something that updated on a fairly regular basis, that allowed readers comments (though I did make a few exceptions, reluctantly) and that wasn’t too stringent on comment moderation.

Also, I didn’t want to end up putting way too many sites up. After all, I have been to a lot of blogs, and I have seen some blogrolls that I know had to have numbered in the hundreds. I just wanted to keep it small, or at least moderate, for the time being. I like the set-up of Blogrolling, incidentally. Once you get the hang of what they are al about, and what you are doing, it’s a whiz. Getting that hang is the problem. But, I got it, finally. I like the way a blog that has recently been updated will show you this with the word new beside it, though I might have to adjust the timing on that particular feature.

I also like the layout choices you get. You can arrange them in groups of whatever number you prefer, so I arranged mine in groups of four, in alphabetical order.

At any rate, that is why I went a whole week without updating my Blog, I wanted to finally take the time to invest in some research into exactly what kinds of blogs I wanted to include. Overall, I am well satisfied with the finished product. There are a few more, as I said, that I might add later on. The Huffington Post is one probabal addition I might add in the near future. Maybe a few more, as the mood strikes, but for the most part what new ones I add will be new discoveries, and I intend to keep them to one hundred or less.

But for now, I think I have just about the right number. If you made it here, consider yourself special. There are few things in the universe I have higher regard for than my own eye for literary or journalistic quality.

Technorati Tantrums-Or, Why I (Sometimes) Hate American Big Business

Two sites I have almost decided I can definitely do without are Site Meter and Technorati. Why? The simple, short answer is, they have no respect or appeciation for the value of their customers time. True, they are both “free sites”, so in a sense you could make the argument I don’t really have a complaint coming. Or, I could stop being the fucking cheap ass that I am and pay for the upgraded versions of both sites. But this isn’t so much about the sites themselves as much as it is what I consdier to be the reaon for their shoddy, poor service, especially Technorati. And, while I’m at it, I might as well add yet a third offender to my list of oppressive sites-Yahoo Mail.

I have spent an hour today, at least going back and forth between these three sites and have accomplished next to nothing. I’ll take that back. Somehow, though it took superhuman reserves of patience, I managed to keep from tearing my hair out. It was an effort though.

So what is the problem with these sites? And why is Tehnorati generally the worse of the three? The problem, in my opinion, can be answered with just one word-advertisements.

The next time you are on one of these sites, or any other “free” site, for that matter, notice how long it takes a fucking page to load. Notice what happens if you, out of frustration, click on a link before that page completes loading. Notice what happens when you angrily click on that link three or four times in sucession.

In the first case, the more complicated the ad, if it ever eventually appears, the longer it takes the page to load. If you end up with an ad that is flashing or rotating or doing any number of crazy things meant to reach out and grab yourattention, you are in for a real problem. You see, if you fail to wait to see the ad in it’s entirety, you quixkly find, in a lot of cases, you are a captive audience. And you have no choice but to wait, or back out of the page, with the hopes, as often or not the vain hope, that you can start all over and the bug will straighten itself out. Alas, this is all too often not the case.

All too often, you will get a page that will urge you to try again, the page is not loading, the site might be too busy, the page was reset, etc. The best thing to do is not to click on the little tab at the bottom of this box, more often than not, on most of thesesites, you wil just get a repetition of the first time. The best thing to do is back out of the page, then try again. And this, unfortuately, is where Technorati becomes the worse of a bad, sorry bunch. It’s almost impossible to back out of these motherfuckers. It’s like they have purposely set up their site so as not to allow you to do that. You may well end up having to just x out, then start al over again. Good luck. If you haven’t given up in disgust by now, you are either a real trooper, or a real gluttonfor punishment.

But this is only the beginning of Techoratis lack of professionalism. I sent an angry e-mail off to them once, about a coupl of weeks ago, compainng about their slowness, and in particular pointing out to that they could afford to cut down on their steps they make you gp through to arrive at any given page. I also pointed out that I, for one, tended to not look kindly on businesses that set up their advertisements insuch a way as to make me waste my time, which is valuable to me, and that maybe they might want to point that out to their advertisers. I mean, it should be a simple matter to tool these ads in such a way that it doesn’t take you forever to get from page to page, right?

Well, since then,the people of Technorati have demonstrated exactly what dicks they are, and can be. I have made two updates since that time, and have been credited for neither one. The last update for The Pagan Temple, was, in fact, almost a month ago, according to them, the last time I WAS ABLE TO CHECK. Yet, my true last update was not quite two weeks ago. They are refusing to reflect the accurracy of my updates on their pages. That is called being childish dicks. Because I contacted them to lodge acomplaint, I am being punsihed. I am being given the cold shoulder.

Site Meter is not really much better, in the speed department. I used to have to wait tow or three minutes for this one fucking ad to load before I could proceed, wit any assurrance of moderate speed. When it finally loaded, it was more often than not an ignorant amateur quality film of some fat ass bitch with a dog on a leash, who suddenly lurches forward and pulls hr flying into the air. The only thing funny about this, to me, was that it was supposed to be funny, so much so that you should want to pay to download this and other such crap from whatever company this was. What wasn’t a bit funny was the time I had to spend waitingfor this tripe before I could proceed.

Thankfully, that ad has been removed, doubtless through lack of interest. But that has not solved the problem with site-meter. Now, the worse offender on this site is from Monster.com. It also has sites from Napster and Coke, but thankfully they aren’t as bad as Monster.

In general, I have a philosopy. If a company pisses you off, don’t patronize them. And I for one encourage everyone who has experienced these difficulties to adhere to that philosophy. It says a lot about American business that they think so little of their prospective customers time. For so long, American business had the entire American population all to themselves, and in the heyday of America business competition, this encouraged a rush to come up with the best possible product. Over time, however, American business grew ever greedier, and worse, ever lazier. American consumers began to pay more and more for less and less. “The customer is always right” philosophy became gradually replaced by,” if you don’t like it fuck you”.

So the American consumer began buying Toyota, and General Motors and Ford blamed the unions for their problems. And they still haven’t learned. They still are working under the asumption that the American public is a captive audience, and if they can force us to sit throug their fucking commercials, whether we like it or not, whether this is on television, or now the internet, somehow their messages will resonate into our subconscous despite ourselves. They actually think, what is worse, that we can be brainwashed into accepting inferior quality, while they pay their workers less, and at the same time their CEOs and other corporate bigwigs draw ever bigger salaries, and wreck the environment in the process. What’s the big surprise about that? They pollute the airwaves, and bandwidth, the same way they posion the earth, air, and water.

At times, I think they don’t merely advertise on sites like Technorati, I think they own them

Jolie Will Dump Pitt, Marry Bono

Angelina Jolie and husband Brad Pitt have recently reftuned to their California mansion courtesy of the private jet of Tom Cruise, at a cost of 250,000 dollars. In the meantime, Cruise is reportedly engaging in an attempt to proselityze the coupleto the rlgion of Scientology. No word as of yet as to the degree of interest expressed by either Jolie or by Pitt, who is soon to begin filming yet a second sequel of the poular movie series Oceans Eleven.

So, in true pagan witch fashion, I’m going to do something a little different from the ordinary, for me, I’m going to make a prediction as to the future of these celebrities the world can’t seem to ever get enough of.

Jolie, I feel, will express some initial interest in Cruises attempts at conversion, but wil quickly coo to the idea. Pitt, however will maintain a degree of interest, to the point that he may well end up finding himself swept up in the movement, if a little bit at a time.

If true, this may not bode too well for his relationship with Angelina, who aside from an occassional mvie and her African charity work wants no more than to be a mother. In fact, she has expressed an interest in one day having yet more children.

Not that the two will just drift apart from lack of interest. Far from it. Pitt will find himself ever more drawn to keep their two worlds as much as one as possible, but alas, it just isn’t meant to be. He may find himself becoming more and more possessed by the ghost of Tom Cruse, to the dismay of our heroin, who will seek silent refuge in other friendships, and in her work for United Nations African charities.

And it is through this that she will meet her future true love of the year-the Irish rock star Bono. Really, who could possibly make the more perfect couple? I say their wedding is a virtual assurrance, if for no other reason than being a calculated publicity marriage which would garner an amount of attention second only to that of Prince Charles and Diana. Cruse will be at the wedding that he inadverdently helped bring about. Pitt, who will have by now settled into an reserved acceptance of thesituation, will not be in attendance. He will probably, however, take the opportunity at this time to promote his latest movie, havig by now made a number of mostly forgettabel ones of mostly moderate box office success. This one wil turn out like his present and soon to be ended marriage. A lot of promise, a lot of hype-but in the end, a flop.

Not that he won’t try to salvage the relationship, but perhaps not in the best of ways. Word will get to him of the ever growing bonds between Bono and Jolie, and he will come to realize that a then current U2 hit had been written by Bono as a romantic ode to Jolie. He will eventually confront the two in a bistro, and an altercation will ensue, resulting in Bono having a teeth-or a cap-knocked loose, before they are seperated by their security personnel. This will happen indoors, at a posh club, free from the pryings of the papparazi, which will initiate a lawsuit against owners of clubs that ban cameras and recording equipment inside their environs, one that will be summarilly and huffily dismissed.

Cruse will try to patch things up between the two, to no avail. Within a period of a few short moths of this event, the by now legally seperated couple will finalize their divorce. Two months or thereabouts later, Bono and Jolie will be married.

The two of them can then travel the world together, meeting with heads of state and advocating on behalf of various African initiatives of pressing urgency. They will adopt many African children, and will have some of their own, and will even establish their own village there, a self sustaining enterprise devoted to feeding, clothing, and educating the poor of Africa, and becoming a center for medical treatment and research. They will receive myriad humanitarian awards, including a Nobel Prize.

Pitt and Cruses friendship will soon falter, and they too will go their seprate ways, following a shared movie flop disaster. Cruse will then devote his time to his by now legally insane wife, in the aftermath of at least two half-hearted suicide attempts, while Pitt will hit the Broadway, and then the Dinner Theatre, circuits.

In the meantime, Jennifer Anniston and her then current husband, will maintain their status as Hollywoods most boring couple.

The Private Life Of Laura Bush

There are times when the silliness of Washington descends to the level of a Hollywood gossip magazine. Still, I have to admit, it’s fun, if pointless, to join in on the speculation as to the priate life of public figures. Lately, certain people have made much ado about the nothing, that could be something, pertaining to Laura Bush’s recent excusions to a Washington area hotel, the Mayfield, where she spent at least one night.

Curious though this is, I find even more amusing the conclusions some have jumped to pertaining to George W. Bush and Condoleeza Rice. Actually, they are late to the bandwagon on which I have been neary the lone rider for months. I’ve always wondered at the degree of closeness between Rice and Bush, though this can be traced back really to the elder President Bush, who established a murual friendship and loyalty for Rice that goes back to possibly H. W.’s days as Vice-President., or maybe before, and seems to have originally been based on her credentials as a Soviet expert and scholar.

Still, Boy George is indeed fond of Ms. Rice, and may in fact be as much of a rock to the Presidents emotional stability as is his wife. So yes, there could be something here. Or, there might not be. Whichever, it’s a little much to reach this conclusion based solely on the appearrance fo Laura Bush at a hotel, which could have come about for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons are innocent. Some not so innocent. Some, if they turned out to be he case, would be disturbing, could even be sisister. I now present to you my list fo possibilities for Laura Bushs brief stay at the Mayfield Hotel.

1. This put her in convenient proximity either to an early morning function or event that she was due to attend, or to transportation to same.
2. A great many of her personal quarters were in the process of being renovated.
3. Some important official though closed function was on-going at the White House, one of a serious nature, and for whatever reason she did not want to be around.
4. There have been recent figures at the White House she is having a problem with, may be uncomfortable around, or even greatly dislike.
5. Her and Bush could indeed have been fighting over any numbers of issues, singly or in combination.
1. His womanizing, his aduterous sexual daliances, with Rice or others
2. His dry drunk temperament, which can be arrogant, and possibly even physically, emotionally, and/or verbally abusive.
3. He may have actualy resumed drinking, which under the circumstances would not be a shock.
6. This is potentially the most serious. She could discover that Bush is ideed culpable in any number of questionable, illicit, or immoral activities. She may be distraught at this, angry at it, or just desirous to distance herself from any involvement in it.
7. Finally, here is the one explanation which, though seemingly the most unlikely, is possibly the one I most like to imagine, and I can’t understand why no one else has thought of it. And I do not intend to beat around the bush (honestly, no pun intended) about it. This reason:

LAURA BUSH WAS GETTING FUCKED.

I mean, come on, look at her. Forget she’s Bush’s wife. If you were a straight man-wouldn’t you? Who the hell wouldn’t, honestly? Do you honestly think the thought never occurred to Teddy Kennedy, when they were working together on Bush’s second rate at best education proposal, early on in his administration? Or Clinton?

I’m telling you, this is one hot fucking woman, in my opinion, and I would be willing to put money on the notion that her and Bush’s sex life has been all but non-existent over the last few years of his Presidency.

Okay, I admit, it’s not likely, but it damn sure isnt impossible. It’s likely, however, not to be a political opponent of the Presidents, though,come to think of it, what better way to stick it to Bush than by sticking it inhis wife. More than likely, though, if she has been engaging in such shenanigans, it is with nobody of any importance, probably no public figures, no friends of the Presidents.

Come to think of it, though, what better way to gain support for a Presidential initiative, or whatever Bush might needs support for, than by fixing up a potential, sought after ally with-but no, nevermind.

It’s probably a foolish idea. Laura Bush would, no matter where she was at, have no chance to engage in sexual dalliances, with anybody, no matter how high up and well placed, or how ordinary and commonplace.

After all, she is constantly surrounded everywhere she goes.

By Secret Service Agents.

Jersey Girls And Adams Apples

Ann Coulter has to a great many finally stepped well over the line of good taste, but she don’t mind, it seems. In fact, it could well be argued that she prefers that position. In her recent book, Godless, she has placed the widows of 9/11 on the same par as Cindy Shehan, yet another set of poster children that can speak for the liberal philosophy in such a way that the average conservative can not dare to question their integrity or motivations. Of course, making such an insinuation to Ann Coulter is like throwing red meat to the wolves, and Ann Coulter is ravinish in her displays of contempt for all matters liberal, and for those liberals who promote them-nomatter who they are.

On a recent appearrance on the Today Show, however, she seemed genuinely stunned, and even thrown off balance, by the questions of Matt Lauer. She never quite recovered from his acussations of insensitivity to the 9/11 widows, though she insisted that their loss, their grief, did not give them a free pass to, for example, support John Kerry in the last Presidential race, and not be questioned for it.

But what she never explained to my satisfaction is exacty why they should not have a right to support any position they choose, without having their integrity questioned. She made some vaque remark about being used by either the Demcoratic Party, or the Far Left, or both, as though they were purposely sought out, recruited for this, much like Cindy Shehan seems to have been recruited by Micharel Moore and MoveOn.org, after having initially met with Presidnt Bush and expressed a belief that he was sincere in his grief for the loss of her son Cassey.

In Shehans example, one could conceivaby make such a case. In the case of the 9/11 widows, however, she offers no evidence of any kind of collussion, of any kind of opportunism, other than the evidence of what she considers the apparent symptoms, that being their support for Democrats and their oppossition to the policies for the Bush Administration.

Well, the only problem with that idea is, a lot of times what might appear to be the symptom of one ailment might well turn out to prove to be something entirely different. And, sometimes, a symptom that might obviously point to one malady might in fact turn out to be just what it is.

An example of the first deceptive type of symptom might be what has been construed to be an adams apple that adorns theneck of Ms. Coulter, which some wags have suggested is an indication that Ann Coulter in reality is, or at one time was, “Mann Coulter”. A cleverly ingenious satire of this theory is to be read in this article. Of course, the adams apple is either not truly an adams apple, or if it is, it is an obvious anomaly, perhaps some kind of birth defect, which is a misleading symptom, one pointing toward a different explanation than tothis one that is often profferred in satire, more often than not malicoulsy so.

An example of the second type of symptom might be applicable to these particular widows of the 9/11 disasters. Until proven otherwise, it should just be surmised that their liberal sympathies might be an indication of-surprise, surprise-they are democrats, with a liberal predisposition. Nothing more, nothing less. In some cases it may or may not be at least a partial result of the 9/11 disaster that they sufferred through so traumatically. That is certainly understandable, if so.

And, it is fine to disagree with their position. It is quite another thing to question their motivations, or their integrity.

The Love And Reality Of Nicholas Berg

I was all prepared to disparage a letter recently written by the father of the late Nicholas Berg, the unfortunate young American who two years back had been brutally executed by the terrorist thug Zarqawi, based on having read two or three lines of excerpts from the letter, in which he seemed to express disdain for President Bush, blaming him for his sons death, while seeming to not only forgive his sons killers, but to offer some seeming degree of sympathy towards them.

Then, I got around to reading the letter. The entire letter. And let me say, this is a perfect example of how merely reading two or three carefully chosen lines can serve to cause you to see these lines completely, or at least somewhat, out of context.

This is a man that is obviously, to this day, heart sick over the loss of the son he so loved and admired, and this comes through in the letter, at least it did to me. And he is obviously to a degree correct in assigning a great lot of the blame for his sons death to Bush and his Neo-Con crowd, to the extent that it has become obvious quite some time ago the war was an unnecessary diversion from, not an integral part of, the war on terror, and more importantly, was entered into ill-advisedly, without the proper planning, troop levels, and supplies, amd may have been enterered into on the strength of false allegations, if not outright deceptions on the part of various members of the Bush Administration.

Still, that does not explain exactly what his son was doing there to begin with. Nicholas Berg was not in Iraq in any sort of offical capacity. He was not even there as a part of a recognized contactural enterprise such as Halliburton. He was, in effect, a free agent, on his own, travelling about the country with no degree of protection or any kind of assistance. He believed too strongly, it seems, in the innate goodness of all mankind, that he could be a force for peace and understanding, in at least a small way. It seems to have never occurred to him how it might look to a typical Arab Muslim, for an American Jew to be travelling their country in an attempt to make money in the aftermath of the American overthrow of their government.

Nicholas Berg had some admirable, if in this case misplaced qualities, and doubtless he derivedsome of these attributes from his family upbringing. Perhaps it is understandable that the senior Mister Berg can’t bear to look at his own contribution to his own sons demise, in what seems to have amounted to a suicde mission for peace, only conducted by a person unwilling, and perhaps as unprepared and ill-equipped to face the realities of the situation as were the American forces in those initial first months.

Yes, all parties bear some share of the burden for the death of Nick Berg, but none more so than Nick Berg himself. I hope his father, for his own sake, can come to grips with this reality, and find some solace in his sons life and beliefs, his dreams, out of place though they were in this one instance, fatally so.

He also did not totally forgive Zarqawi and his band of merry murderers. He called them what they were, thugs and killers. Yet, in the aftermath of the death fo Zarqawi, I find it interesting,the comparison he made to Bush and to these heinous men. Bush,he said, never looked into his sons eyes. His sons killers did, and he felt certain that, in those brief last few minutes, after having spent so much time with him, they knew they had a good man in their midst, and, in those last few seconds, a part of them regretted, did not enjoy, taking his life.

But actually, they did take his life, bottom line. Furthermore, having viewed the film of his execution, for the first time it was shown up to the exact second Zarqawi began hacking into Bergs neck with that thick, dull blade. They pounced on him, pinning him to the ground, in a manner of seconds. It was like releasing hungry lions in the vicinity of a helpless moose, one they had been restrained from for several weeks, while salivating over it.

Killers who respect their prey, to even a small degree, tend to be somewhat merciful. There was nothing merciful about Zarqawis sadistic execution of Nicholas Berg. Maybe one day the elder Berg will be able to come to grips with the reality of his sons true fate. But I can’t really fault him much for not being able to deal with it right now, or for that matter, if he ever does.

The Death Of Al Zarqawi

Americans have good reason to applaud the death of Abu Mussaub Al Zaquari, and many of them have. This is true even among many of the Far Left, though with reservations, in many cases. The death of this vile human cancer, unfortunatly, may be somewhat like the removal of a tumor that has already metastisized, and spread. The major harm that he may have been doing, however, was not merely to any potential middle east peace hopes, which are already slim at best, but to the reputation of Al-Queda as a force for the protection of Islam in the hearts and minds of a good many Arab Muslims, at least among the more traditionalist minded Sunni populations.

His targeting of not only Shi’ite but Sunni civilians, particularly in Jordan, but in Iraq as well, and the massive causalties among all Arabs that he was to a large degree creditied for, had earlier brought about a reprimand from number two Al-Queda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who cautioned him that he might be turning Muslims against the cause in ever increasign numbers.

Yet, not too long before his ultimate demise, Al-Zawahiri issued a videotape, in which he briefly mentioned Zarqawi as a valued friend and ally of the cause. This almost can be construed as a cover to hide any involvement in the procss by which the Jordanian terrorist mastermind was betrayed to the American forces by a close associate, who informed him of Zarqawis whereabouts.

Hopefully, the 25 million dollar bounty that this informant would have been entitled to will not by him be turned over to some degree to the Al-Queda organization. Even two or three million dollars, to say nothing of ten or twenty million, would greatly serve to bolster and enhance any one ongoing terrorist cell operation, whether that might be in Iraq, Europe, or here in the US.

It would certainly go a long way toward possibly enabling the cancer that is a metastises of fundamentalist Islam to seek to engage in it’s own brand of radiation and/or chemical therapy.

Despite this, no one should question that it is a good thing that this vile excuse for a human beig has been destroyed, and there can be no question that he has been. Yet, some have questioned it, wondering aloud how it is that the DNA tests that confirmed his identity were done at a far more rapid rate than would normally be the case, a matter of a couple of days as oppossed to the two week orlonger process that isusualy required. I can only assume that samples of his DNA have all ready been tested and compared, which made the process much easier than normal.

Nor do I take too seriously reports that Zarquawi, initialy alive, was brutaly beaten upon his recovery by the American forces. In fact, I absolutely don’t believe it in the least. The troops who recovered Zarqawi were relativly fresh, the operation amounting to the mere dropping of two five hundred pound bombs on his hideout. There was no huge, high pitched, hard scale battle to force up the adrenaline of American soldiers to dangerous levels, so there would be no reason to suppose that their professionism was compromised, as it may have been in a handful of unusual cases.

The worse thing about all this is, it may be too little too late. Someone will rise to take Zarqawi’s place as leader of Al-Queda in Iraq, though hopefully this will be someone without the former leaders operational and planning skills, charisma, and brutality. At any rate, the violence is likely to continue, and may temprorarily even worsen as his followers seek to exact revenge as a statement of their unwillingness to surrender. They will continue, and will make that obvious.

Still, operations already in the works have been compromised by the discovery of computers, hard drives intact, which seem to have vital information stored. Also, Zarqawis main focus, the driving of further wedges between Shias and Sunnis, in the hopes of instigating all out civil war between them in Iraq, may as well have been serously thwarted, at least in the long run.

But for the time being, there is going to be little apparent difference.

The Politics Of Murtha

In one very surprising move, Pennsylvania House of Representatives member John Murtha has announced he intends to run for the postion of Democratic House Leader, which would make him House Majority Leader shoud the Dems take over the House after this falls election.

It couldn’t be bad for the Democrats if he were to win, in fact it might signal a return to control by the faction that made the Democratic Party great, back when they actually legitimately represented the dreams and hopes of average working class Americans, a class which now has little to no legtimate representation by either of the major parties. But, the fact that current Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, a longtime friend and sometime ally of Murtha, has offerred no known objection to his intentions to run, demonstrates that, if true, she is not too worried over the prospect.

I tend to wonder if Murtha might not be eyeing an even bigger prize-a potential second spot on the Democratic 1908 Presidential ticket, possibly behind Hillary Clinton.

It would certainly explain his recent out of character behavior. The usually hawkish Congressman, known to be heavily pro-military, has come out forcefully against the slaughter at Haditha, well before all the facts were actually known. Of course, if the facts as presented are correct, it is not only the politically correct thing to do-it is the right thing to do. Yet, Murtha seems to have arrived at his conclusions before all these facts were legitimately validated, and the fact that he has done so publicly is even more stunning than his earlier pronoucemnts against the war he had early on so strongly initially supported.

Of course, Murtha, as he pointed out, has the trust of the top military brass, in addition to the rank and file military personnel, so he is in a position to know the facts, more so than most, certainly more than most if not all Democrats. And this I can assure you would be the major point to be made for his inclusion in any Dmeocratic Presidential ticket.

He has gravitas as a Demcorat noted as a friend of the military, one strong on national security,the military, and defense related issues. And, thanks to his positons over the last year, particularly now, he could conceivably be someone the left wing of the party can not only accept, but maybe even heartily endorse.