The Real Me

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (21% permissive) You are best described as a: Strong Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

One Loony Conspiracy Theory-Mine-Bites The Dust

Yeah, I've been hanging around Far Left newsgroups for way too long, I've caught something contagious. I usually like to ridicule them for such nuttiness as the proliferation of Zionist conspiracy theories and how the 9/11 attacks were staged, but like they say, when you lie down with dogs, you can catch fleas.

When I first heard that the Hubble Space Telescope was due to be discontinued, the first thing I thought of was how this sounded like it might have an intentional relationship with George W. Bush's own coziness with the equally looney far right. In fact, this news was given out at about the same time that Bush was somewhat encouraging the teaching, as science, in public schools of what has been termed Intelligent Design-just another barely disguised (though this is denied) code word for "creationism".

It's proponents are quick to defend it by asserting they want to offer it as a scientific theory in addition to, not instead of, the teaching of evolution.

When I heard the news about Hubble being allowed to die, I made a connection between the two, and immediately jumped the gun by theorizing that the Hubble Space Telescope might prove to be somewaht of an embarrassment to Bush's major Christian backers. After all, it has already demonstrated what science has long ago claimed, that the universe was created billions of years ago, not the six to ten thousand years that many conservative Christians claimed, and to a large degree still claim.

What if it further established evidence of the Big Bang? There would be no further need for debate on that score. And I had an idea that Bush, for all his much vaunted religious faith, would not be counting on seeing God up there giving us all a high five in a billions years ago preparation for what he in his infinite wisdom would know would be our eventual snapshot into time and space.

Sure, the religous right could still spin it, but fewer people would believe the spin. More to the point, it would be an embarrassment to the people who have spent decades decrying and even ridiculing the theory of evolution and the Big Bang theory, should they suddenly be presented with photographic proof of the event.

The Hubble Telescope hadn't merely been eliminated as a program whose usefulness had run it's course, I decided-it had been assassinated. One of my formative posts on Blogspot was on this very subject.

I wish I had known Zandperl then, whose blog, Modern Science, is a member of the blogroll, she could have saved me the trouble of writing what I thought at the time was an interesting and provocative post. Come to find out, the Hubble is going to be replaced, in 2013, by an even better space telescope, and in the meantime there is one already that might in time outshine Hubbles vaunted accomplishments. But the new one in question, the one scheduled to be launched no earlier than June of 2013, will utilize infrared photography, in a cold setting shoelded from the sun, that will enable it to detect the formation of the earliest of stars.

Finally, I also understand that, as of this stage of the game, there is no way to view the actual Big Bang (itself, incidentally, probably an event of billions of years in duration), as the initial result of that event was a radioactive cloud that seems to have permeated the entire universe, making viewing past that point in time impossible.

In other words, this is in itself somewhat proof of the Big Bang. Who knows, someday we might eventually be able to pierce the veil. There would probably be really nothing to see but a vast explosion of light. Now that would be kind of hard to spin.

Will I Ever Live This Down?

You Are Most Like George W. Bush

So what if you're not exactly popular? You still rule the free world. And while you may be quite conservative now, you knew how to party back in the day!

What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

I find this very hard to believe, but then again the questionnaire is skewed and limited. I would have guessed Van Buren, frankly, or maybe Cleveland, or Truman. They realy need to give you more options on these questions, because this just ain't right?

Thanks to Cardianal Martini, who is soon taking a probably permanent leave of absence from blogging. Pay him a visit and wish him well. He's on the blogroll.

Pregnant Women And Their Sex Addict Babies

According to yet another scientifical medical study, it is not a danger to have sex during pregnancy, for the infant. Yes, I know that is old news, as far as the potential for causing miscarriages, or for injuring the child in the uterus. But this new directive has come down from on high from the clouds of academia evidently out of some expressed concern that see during pregnancy, or at least during late in pregnancy, might induce premature labor.

While that is certainly nice to know, no on has yet conducted any studies to determine the validity of my theroy as to sex during pregnancy, and it’s potential harm to the child. I posted this once before, and so, on the occasion of this newly and seemingly profound medical reassurance, I represent it here, in it’s entirety.

Sex During Pregnancy-Can It Cause Your Child To Grow Up To Be A Sex Addict?

Black Magic Lopez

To my way of thinking, Jennifer Lopez is a third rate singer and a fourth rate actress, who just happens to be very beautiful, so I could never quite figure out what the draw was. I mean, what is it with men? I'm hard up at times, but even at my worse I don't spend my time or money on such minimal talent. Except to wonder, what the hell gives here?

Well, as luck and Witchvox would have it, I may have stumbled upon the answer. Jennifer Lopez is, according to her ex-husband Ojani Noa, a practitioner of the religion of Santeria, as well as the even darker Brujeria. Both of these sects, similar to voodoo, involve the veneration of ancient African deities, brought over by black Carribbean based slaves, who disguised their deities as Catholic saints.

In the meantime, it involves animal sacrifice, such as chickens and goats, and ritual spirit possession.

Noa was earlier paid 150,000 dollas to keep silent after the divorce, but he has been lately anything but as he divulges how Lopez has used her practices in order to control all the men she has become involved with, including Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs.

From there, it only gets stranger. Remember the tediously constant stream of "news" about "Bennifer"? Yeah, Ben Afleck was supposedly under Jennifers magical influence as well. He even has intimated the reason for the sudden breakup betwen the two. It was at the instigation of her spiritual advisor, one Merle Gonzalez, who advised her there was a bad aura that hovered over the relationship, and she should break it off, which she then did.

He must have seen the same episode of Entertainment Tonight that gave me the dry heaves.

Slayer

The metal band Slayer has learned well how to attract publicity by way of controversy, and that nothing is guaranteed to do the job better than the use of religion. Recent controversies over such movies as The DaVinci Code, and before that Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation Of Christ most certainly didn't escape their notice. More to the point, they seem to have learned something from the bloody epic by Mel Gibson The Crucifixion Of Christ, that broke box office records worldwide, despite a raging controversy due to the films excessive violence, which many even in the Christian community viewed as horrific, gratuitous, and even pornographic.

This last film may have well provided some of the inspiration for Christ Illussion, or more specifically, for the cover art for the album, which is due out August 8th of this year on Rubins American Recordings/Warner Brothers Records.

The cover portrays Christ, his arms chopped off, standing in a sea of blood, surrounded by decapitated heads, and was painted by veteran Slayer album cover artist Larry Cornell, on a 4 ft. by 4 ft. slab of wood, using a combination of mediums. Kerry King, the guitarist for Slayer, was so taken with the artwork, he secured the rights to ownership of it.

It has already come under fire from some Christian groups, a month before it's due release date. If the artwork is as explicit as promised, the controversy is certain to grow, and as a result Slayers album sales.

I meant to include a link to the groups web-site, however, it's a shitty web-site, so I won't. Hopefully Slayer will make enough money fromthe proceeds of the album, in addition to their tour, they can afford to put up a decent web-site, hopefully one tht has a page that will load in under five minutes.

Failing that, I'm sure there is plenty of information to learn about the group, including their coming tour and dates and places for it. In the meantime, I will remain content to leave you with the above photo of the coming album, though I think this might be a milder version. One version was said to have been stolen from the web-site it was originally on. Personally, I think it was removed due to ISP complaints, but I could be wrong.

I know the grou8p was not satisfied with the first version, but were more than happy with the second. "It makes him look more like a drug addict" quipped one bandmember.

Just One Little Church In Abermarle North Carolina

Alan Dido, pastor of the Encounters Christ Church of Albermarle, North Carolina, seems to be on a jihad of sorts, a holy war, against what he terms Satanism, and drug addiction. I’ll give the good pastor credit for one thing-he has a clue as to one truth of pagan religions-it’s not like Hollywood, nor, does he stress, is Christianity.

In fact, Dido is not too happy with the status of Christianity as of now, he seems to think they aren’t truly living the life of Christians, they are present in body, you might say, but not in spirit. But his main problem with the church seems to be mainly that it isn’t A Church. He sees the predominence of the many different denominations as evidence of Satans work to divide the faithful.

Well, it’s not. The only thing it is evidence of is that people are too diverse and naturally independent to all be satisfied with any one faith, let alone any particular one expression of that one faith. If the good reverend was truly out to learn and teach the truth, he would realize that and at least accept it for the fact that it is, if not actually appreciate it, which would be even more preferable.

I will give him credit for one other thing though. He understands that Satnanists-which seems to unfortunately be his term for any pagan type religion-aren’t all the knifewielding psycopathic monsters engaging in ritual sacrifice and sexual orgies that people tend to imagine. He even goes so far as to give them credit for actually, for the most part, being law abiding citizens, possibly even of high moral character.

Unfortunately, he goes on from there to assert that this, too, is some kind of diabolical plot to infiltrate the body of Christ-the Church-from within, and so further the corrupting influence that has divided the church into all these varius divisions that seem to spring up, in his words, on every street corner.

So, in other words, Reverend Dido is chasing after imaginary monsters that exist within the dark recesses of his mind, while failing to appreciate the fact that he can’t seem to walk from one street to another without seeing evidience of the predominence of Christianity.

The road to heaven, Reverend, begins at the intersection of the body, the heart, the mind, and the soul-as does hell.

Religous Liberties

The World Overcomes Outreach Ministries of Memphis, the pastor of which is “Apostle” Alton R. Williams, can be easily found at the intersection of Kirby Park and Winchester, due to the recent addition of a 72 foot tall likeness of The Statue Of Liberty. The church also boasts a school, bowling alley, roller rink, bookstore, and according to the pastor, 12,000 members, predominantly black.

Dubbed The Statue of Liberty Through Christ, the statue holds a cross instead of a torch, and in the other arm, a tablet pair on which is engraved the Ten Commandments. According to the pastor, the statue was originally presented by France as a welcome to freedom for Americas recently freed former black slave population, and was only after received changed to represent a welcoming of immigrants.

Aside from this rather interesting historical revision, the statue seems to represent exactly what one would expect, the idea that America is a Christian nation, it’s laws were based on Judaeo Christian philosophy, etc. All of which is true, of course, but only partially so, I would submit only minorly so. But why quibble?

I am no expert, but if I recall correctly, one of the commandments on the tablet the lady holds in one arm has the admonition, “thou shalt make unto thee no graven images”. It goes on to explain that this is not a reference merely to human figures, but also to animals, birds, fish, and creeping things of the earth. Although the commandment states that you should not bow down to worship them, every word of this comandment was taken as a separate law unto itself, was believed literally, and for the most part adhered to rigorously.

A time traveller from today to ancient Israel in the time of King David, for example, would be hard pressed to find any statuary. In fact, it would be impossible to find any, not only in any public buildings or parks, but not in any private homes as well. Nor would you find any depictions of any kind of living thing in any kind of artwork whatsoever. The one sole exception seems to have been the two winged cherubim that rested atop the arc of the covenant, which of course was unavailiable for viewing by any save the priesthood, at least after the first temple was buildt.

Our hypothetical time traveller would likely even be stoned were he to present photographs from his wallet of himself and his family, for making a god of himself. Yes, I’m serious. They were that serious about these laws in those days, which all the more leads me to wonder why Christians today make such a big deal about displaying the commandments. Very few Christians actually observe them in the intended way, even the very fundamnetalists who want to force them on everybody else. For that matter, the vast majority if not all Jews no longer follow to the original intent this old prohibition against idols-which according to the original intent of the scriptures is what this and other such statues most surely are.

Now I know a good many Christians will object that ordinary statues are most certainly not idols, and they will vehemently deny that the Statue of Liberty or this likeness of her are idols as well. They will point out that no one worships the statues as though they were goddesses. They are symbolic representations of an ideal, which we can look upon and use as a channel to reflect upon that ideal, as a means of inspiring us to strive to be worthy of it. To which I would reply-

EXACTLY RIGHT!! AND THAT IS EXACTLY HOW PAGAN IDOLS WERE USED.

They as well were not actually living deities in and of themselves, but represented the god or the goddess and the ideals that diety represented, and by reflecting on them, in meditation, you sought to attune with the deity and those ideals, which you would hopefully be inspired to strive to be worthy of in some small way.

Sure, you can split hairs and point out the obvious differences, but it doesn’t matter. Acording to Mosaic law, a graven image of any kind was a potential idol, and held the danger of drawing you into idolatry. The good pastor of this church- the “Apostle” Williams- should reflect upon that the next time he gazes upon the likeness of the Goddess of Liberty.

And, by the way, Pastor Williams- should you by chance happen upon this post- kindly give my regards.

The Archaeology Of Myth

Just when you thought you would never hear it again, somebody else has decided they have found the remains of Noah’s Arc, nestled in the side of a mountain which is indeed within the range that would qualify it as a “mountain of Ararat”. This time the offender is one Arch Bonnema, of the Biblical Archaeology Search and Exploration (B.A.S.E.) Institute, a Christian organization dedicated to looking for Biblical artifacts. This discovery, 13,000 feet high on the side of a mountain in the Elburz Mountain Range of Iran is, according to Bonnema, potentially "proof that God is real”.

Ahhh, no. It doesn’t prove one thing, one way or another, it just offers a tantalizing little bit of affirmation to those who believe, and nothing to those of us who don’t.

My guess-what has been discovered is the remnants of an ancient temple, possibly to the Babylonian God El, known in later times as Allah and, to the Jews, yes, Elohim-or, to be clear, Yahweh. In his earliest incarnation, as El the Moon God, he was generally portrayed as riding in a boat that represented the crescent moon, was worshipped on mountains, and as such his temple might have well been made to resemble boats, probably in their time exquisitely adorned with such items as bronze, gold,silver, ivory, copper, and lapis lazuli.

There may as well have been animal stalls on these ships, where animals were maintained for the purposes of the conducting of sacrifices, and for the nourishment of the priesthood.

So why would I think this, why would I not at least consider the possibility that it might actually be Noahs Arc? Well, for one thing, there was suppossedly only one arc. So how many of these things have been found over the years? I know of at least one before this, for a fact, and I have heard there were more than just this one at the time I read about this one and saw the pictures of it. Assumming this book was not a complete fraud, which it might well have been, I have no choice but to conclude that all these findings are indeed archaeological treasures, and potentially brimming with scientifically verifiable information pertaining to the origins of the old Babylonian cult that gave birth to the three great Abramaic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

There may well have been a terrifying disaster of epic proportions that included flooding –not of the world, but of this specific Meditterannean region of it- which, in addition to lending the inspiration for the various flood mythologies of this region, may have actually lead to the fall from favor of the old cult of El among the Babylonian people, and his replacement by his son Bel Marduk, who was said to have overthrew his father after the latter sent a flood to destroy him, all the other gods, and all the earth.

The true shame of it is that when these discoveries are made, they are then appropriated by people with no serious scientific or archaeological backgrounmd, who then proceed to, I am very much afraid, discard any finding which don’t validate their own predetermined desires. This of course is even assumming they even notice to begin with. These people do not exactly strike me as professional archaeologists, or even as good amateurs. As a result, who knows what has been, or will be, destroyed, inadverdently or purposely.

Yes, true knowledge of the past, potentially and irrevocably destroyed,all in the name of seaching for a truth that never really existed.

Holy Moses!

The Double A baseball team the Tulsa Travellers have come up with what they consider the perfect gimmick to encourage attendance for their faith and family night during home town appearrances of the team. And according to General Manager Brain Carroll, it is catching on. The gimmick?

Moses bobble head dolls. Yep, Moses, clutching the Ten Commandments. Now, I can see where the novelty of this might be appealling,and it might really catch on, and expand.

"The bobblehead craze is still out there," said Brian Carroll, spokesman for the Double-A ballclub. "We'll probably draw two kinds of people for the game, the Moses fans and the bobblehead collectors."

How about Moses as team mascot? Everytime a team member from the oppossing club hits a homerun he smashes the tablets on the ground in anger. Anytime the oppossing team has bases loaded he drops to his knees in prayer. Anytime the Tulsa team gets a run he lifts up his robe and starts dancing a jig like dance.

Okay, I know, that last isn’t in the Bible, so what do you expect him to do, chase down the oppossing teams manager and pour molten gold down his throat?

Who knows, this might even start a trend. I can see it now, Jesus On The Cross Bobble-Head Dolls..

Origin Of The Species

According to the Bible, we are all related, all in fact descended from the same two people, whom most Chritians, or at least most fundamentalists, assert lived anywhere from six thousand to ten thousand years ago.

Amazingly, according to recent findings of a study conducted by scientists, the statistical probability is, they are more likely correct, to a point, than has previously been imagined. In fact, they might be off by as much as anywhere from one thousand years, or even more.

In fact, according to this research, the one single ancestor of every human being now living-and therefore, by extension, of every single human being that will ever live from this point-may have lived as recently as the time of Christ, two thousand years ago.

Yeah, I know that’s a real head spinner, but note the caveat. The ancestor of all humans now living-not the ancestor of every human that ever lived.

So who was he-or she-and where did this person live? Well, according to the genreral consensus, more than likely this person hailed from somewhere in East Asia, and more specifically probably from the areas of either Siberia, Malaysia, or Taiwan.

Note, the projection as to the land of origin is probably based on a comparison of genetic samples compiled over a period of years. The time frame of this persons life-anywhere from 2000 to 5000 years ago-is basd on this as well, in combination with statistical analysis.

And it’s easy to see why, once you multiply your ancestry by the method of doubling it for every preceding generation. Figuring an average of four generations per century, you will find yourself coming to an unbelievably daunting number. You have, of course, two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents, etc.

To illustrate, I took it back to the 1720’s, at which point my earliest known ancestor arrived by ship to this country from Ireland as a young stowaway lad of about twelve or so. This young boy, who was my ancestor, was only one of such that lived in this time. In fact, of all my ancestors I could conceivably trace back to this time, roughly three hundred years ago, Lawrence Kelley was only one of 4096 of my ancestors that lived then.

Even taking into account the potential for double or even triple ancestry due to cousin marriages, prevalent in earlier days, or even to marriages between spouses who were unknowingly at least distantly related, it is still reasonable to arrive at the rounded off figure of 4000 ancestors for myself, just in this time span-a mere 300 years. And remember, this would be the number of ancestors I would have not in total up to this time-but those that lived just in this general span of time. Take it to just the preceding generation, and suddenly I have an extra 9092 ancesotors, at least nine thousand once rounded off for the reasons I described.

Keep going to just one thousand years, and then two thousand, and it is esy to see how it is practically impossible for every person on earth to not be related, to at least a small extent, which would naturally mean, eventually, a common ancestor.

And this person may possibly have lived in the time of Christ? For some strange reason, despite the suppossition this ancestor probably lived in East Asia, the DaVinci Code keeps popping into my head. Could we all possibly be descended from one of the Caesars? The Herods? Or even-

But seriously, whoever the person was, chances are he was wealthy, powerful, and had many wives, and a prolific number of children which would be considered astronomical, maybe even irresponsible, in our day and time, regardless of the persons wealth. If so, a cataloquing of such known individuals, and the testing of the dna of their known descendents, might conceivably mean his-or her-identity could be one day known to us, if only with limited certainty.

Playah Nerds

One of the most troubling aspects to law enforcement when it comes to infiltrating various gangs, such as the Bloods, the Crips, and others, is the degree of time and effort it takes to establish a rapport with a targeted member, just on the outer periphery, without attracting suspicion. By their nature, gangs are insulated, and territorial, yet due to this they are traditionally limited at least somewhat in scope.

Now, however, this too has changed, thanks to the Internet. One of the most troubling trends in recent years from the perspective of those who track gang activities, hate groups, etc, is in the ability of gangs to interract over the internet.

Some even have special web-sites, though these usually won’t be listed in the name of the group, but instead will be listed as owned by an individual who is a member of the gang. Some gangs use public sites, such as the popular and these days controversial MySpace.com.

Because of this recent trend, George W. Knox, the director of the National Gang Crime Research Center, has been training police officials on how to cull intelligence in such areas as gang membership, rivalries, territories, and even the coded language different gangs use.

Of course, as gangs get more sophiticatd, the harder they become to conduct surveilance on. Coded language, for example, can be relatively easily changed to adapt to these surveillance methods. From now on, an ordered hit, a drug transaction, or delivery, can all be ordered from the relative security of the Intrnet, as the more savvy of these gangs certinly aren’t going to be too careless.

And this isn’t even touching on membership drives, the prospect of which just became a bit more disconcerting.

Aryan Nation

As if the Pentagon didn’t have enough worries in regards to how it’s going to maintain troop levels over a long period due to the demands of the Iraqi and Afghan Wars, while still maintaining the capabilities to respond to other needs, it seems that they’ve been force fed an extra helping of anxieties.

First, there are ever growing reports of American troop involvement in atrocous activities such as reported in the town of Haditha, where a number of civilians were outright murdered, execution style, by American troops. In addition to this, a fourteen year old Iraqi girl was raped, and then executed. Her father, mother, and five year old sister were also murdered in what seemed to be a planned assault.

Then, it came out that a ot of these activities were covered up as reports went up the chain of command.

In addition to the problems in attracting and retraining recruits, Pentagon bureaucrcy has been responsible for one soldier being called back into active duty, who was supposed to be relieved from this obligation as of 2001. Be that as it may, he went, asumming the call was correct, served some time on a bomb disposal unit, and though he was lucky to make it home alive once the mistake was caught, he now suffers from bad knees and diabetes. This soldier from Ohio is now looking for an attorney in an effort to receive the full retirement and health benefits to which he feels he is now entitled.

The reson for the snafu? He was listed on two different military documents, one of which had him listed as a soldier, the other one-the relevant one which he knew nothing about- which identified him as a captain.

Now it turns out an appreciable number of enlisted personnel are members of various white supremacist organizations, or “Aryans”.

Well, maybe. I have my share of skepticism about this, though it has been reported that various forms of white supremacist graffitti has turned up on public buildings in Iraq. The supposed problem with this is not only the problems it can cause with Iraqi civilian/American military relations, which of course are not that good to begin with –let’s just say they are currently strained, at best-but the future implications. The fear is due to the prospect that these Aryan soldiers might learn combat techniques and weapons skills which they can then use to train other white supremacists, creating a future potential domestic terrorist problem.

Of course, it could also be that they are looking for potential scapegoats for incidents such as Haditha, scapegoats that could be portrayed as outside the mainstream of American opinion as far as relations with Islam and Muslims go. If true, they are due to run into a slight roadblock. Aryans, who prefer these days to call themselves white racialists, are if not in the majority against the Iraqi War, are at least divided concerning it, and to a great extent blame the Israeli lobbyists such as AIPAC, and their political supporters in Congress, and for that matter Bush, for promoting this war, which they feel is unjustified.

Therefore, while there might be a small degree of truth as to this Aryan infiltration of American armed services, and the potential problems this might cause,concerned parties would be well advised to do a little fact checking before they try to make too big a mountain out of this molehill.

The Obrador Challenge

It looks like Calderon is the winner of the recent Mexican Presidential election, and since he is from the same party as current and soon outgoing President Vincente’ Fox, it is all too easy to assume that all will be business as usual.

That, however, is not necessarily the case. Obradors Party now has a larger share of seats in the Mexican Congress than at any time previously in it’s history, so they are now in a bargaining position like never before. Add to that the prospect of collussion with the once dominant Party that once held a monopoly of power-and which in this last election polled only twenty two percent of the vote-and you have some potential for change. That old party would so much like to regain some degree of status it might be willing to form a coalition when it comes to issues and initiatives that are popular with the Mexican people. Calderons Party would then be in a real bind.

Of course the real problem is not necessarily the parties, or the candidates who lead them. It is the Mexican system, which amounts to a feudal state disguised as a democracy. It is not going to go away easily, and even gradual, incremental change is going to be hard to gain.

It might yet, due to this reason, come down to riots, strikes, and even civil war. If this happens, I hope the US has the border guarded sufficiently, because a bloody civil war in Mexico would almost certainly encourage as much as a doubling or more of the current refugees from Mexico in the form of illegal immigrants who would in every way be as much refugees from war as from poverty and corruption.

Here's one thing you can count on for sure. If the situation in Mexico were to deteriorate to massive unrest, or even civil war, the vast majority of resultant refugees won't be headed in the direction of Nicaraqua.

Those Sensitive Nazis

Leave it to the hypersensitive from all walks of life to make an isue out of a throwaway line that was meant to be an attmpt at humor, but suddenly has been morphed in this politically correct age we live in as an allegedly prejudiced remark of insensitivity.

When Joe Biden, Senator of Delaware and so far the only officially announced candidate for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination, remarked that you have to understand Asian Indian accents to go to any Seven Eleven store in Delaware, it was actually meant to convey the message as to how vital and important a part of American life is the immigrant community in general, and in this case the Asian Indian immigrant community.

What’s really ridiculous is the idea that Biden, a distinquished Senator with a long history of public service, should have to lower himself to responding to this self-serving ignorance. What is wrong with these fucking people? Whatever it is, I see nothing defamatory about his remarks. When you get right down to it, his statement is a simple observation of reality. In fact, I will go so far as to say I’m happy to see that immigrants from India have finally branched out from the hotel/motel industry.

It’s kind of similar, really, to the way Chineese coolies branched out from being railroad workers to first laundry owners, and then restauranteurs. Since the latter move, incidentally, I miss not having my shirts starched in that expert way, but I do think I know what that “ancient Chinese secret” is-rice.

This all reminds me of a joke I heard on Leno the other night by George Carlin, about the difference in heaven and hell.

In heaven, the Italians are the lovers, the French cook the food, the Swiss run the hotels, the English are the police, and the Germans are the mechanics.

In hell, the Italians are the mechanics, the French run the hotels, the Swiss are the lovers, the English cook the food, and THE CHERMANS ARE THE POLEESE!!!!!

I guess it’s good for Carlin he didn’t include in this list any minority ethnic groups, there would be calls as we speak to destroy all his recordings.

A Split In Conecticutt

Joe Liebermann is paying the price for playing the lice in the Bush. Democratic activists and other leftists have denounced him roundly and soundly to the point that he now faces a serious challenge for his partys primary to retain his seat as Senator from Conneticutt. The challenger, one Ned Lamont, is running mainly as an anti-war candidate, and to the ire of Liebermann, the Joementum toward New Mexico was put into reversal a couple of nights ago due to the urgent need to face the challenger in a debate.

It was classic Liebermann, all at once petulant, arrogant, yet at the same time whiny and ingratiating. He knows he might be in serious trouble, for there's a chance he could lose to Lamont, who by all accounts ran as if he were the incumbent, knowledgeable and dignified.

It's of concern to the Democratic Party as a whole. Chuck Schumer, the Senior Senator from New York, is on record as saying that he will support Liebermann, even should he run as an independent against Lamont in the general election. Most Democrats say they will support whoever wins the primary, out of respect for the wishes of the Connecticutt party members. At the same time,however, they vow to support Liebermann in the primaries. Certain of them, such as Barbara Boxer of California, and Joe Biden, from Delaware, have caught a lot of heat for supporting Liebermann even to this extent.

Still, they are in a bind. If Liebermann follows through on his vow to run as an idependent if he fails to secure the party nomination-and he has begun a petition drive to do just that in the event-he could conceivably win the election. If he wins in that manner, the Democrats would of course hope he would continue to caucus with them, though at the same time they have to realzie that as an independent, he might have more of a free hand than ever to be just that-totally independent. And the party who retains power in the Congress could easily have the biggest pull on his loyalty, for the good of his state. This would be all the more ironic in that he could be responsible for the Repubicans retaining majority status in the Senate, if he does run as an independent and thus splits the Democratic vote.

He could make the claim that he was being targeted for elimination by the leftist elements of his own party, and that might be slightly justified. By the same token, the degree of support Lamont has gained from the liberal wing of the Democratic voters is indicative of the fact that Liebermanns Joementum has just been leaning too heavily for the right for quite some time, and to far too great a degree for them to feel comfortable with or good about.

There is a reason after all that Ann Coulter has gone on record as supporting Liebermann, even going so far as to advise him to become a Republican. The worse thing she has said about him lately is that if he were to do that, "he wouldnt be our best Republican".

And the facts are Liebermann is as he claims in many ways a traditionalist liberal Democrat. He is pro-choice, pro-civil and gay rights, pro-environment and pro-labor, if but moderately so.

My main bitch at him isn't his votes on Homeland Security, which he originally co-authored, or on the Iraqi War, or the "War on Terror". His votes along those lines were not so different from most Democrats, who also voted for these things, before they, of course, voted against them. Lieebermann at least has been consistent. No, my main bitch at him is his vote on issues like the bankruptcy bill, and his pandering to the religous elements of society, something I find personally abhorent.

That, and his conduct in the 2000 Presidential campaign,when he ran for Vice-Preisdent. If I didn't know better I'd swear that Liebermann was sitting there besides Cheney during this "debate", and all the while jacking him off under the table. He just comes across as ingratiating, as even servile, in the effort to exude a positive appearrance. If he had lived in Germany during Nazi times, Goebbels could have used him as two different characters in his propoganda films, as one character the arrogant, scheming Zionist Jew out for his own welfare at the expense of everything and everybody else, in another the servile, ingratiating type of Jew that would eaily colaborate with the Nazis as a way of saving his own neck.

And while that might seem extreme, it's worth pointing out that Connecticutt is not only Liebermanns home state, it is also the home state of the Presidents father, the former Preisident, George H. W. Bush. Who knows what shadowy connections the two of them might share? Connecticutt is an old money state, where family heritage goes back many years, and is deeply ingrained in the fabric of the society.

And if there is one thing that can bring Democrats and Republicans together, it's money.

Lay Down In Hell

I don't really know whether I believe in hell or not, but if the gods truly exist, they ought to invent one just for the likes of Kenneth Lay, the late former CEO of Enron. This guy and his cronies ruined more lives than anybody in recent memory, in America. He may actually take the grand prize in that regard .

Everybody knows about how he ripped off his investors and his employees, who were rpetty much forced to buy Enron stock, and as a result lost their 401 k's, while this turd had the temerity to encourage them to buy even more, knowing the stock was worthless.

Most people tend to forget that he almost bankrupted the state of California, holding the state hostage with Enrons predatory energy pricing policies, and engaging in a series of blackouts that amounted to almost a hostile takeover bid of the states infrastructure. He should have been prosecuted for this alone, yet he had friends in high places, in both the Clinton and the Bush Administrations.

Now, he's dead. Some people don't believe it,and some people think he was murdered. Take your pick.

* He committed suicide to protect his familys finances
*His wife murdered him; see reason stated above
*He was murdered by orders of someone in the Bush Administration in order to protect Bush from being confronted with the potential for the public release of Lays knowledge of his culpability in criminal actions.
*He was murdered by some of his own business associates, to protect their own skins.
*He faked his death. He is living somewhere high on the hog right now, laughing at all of us.

Well, he's dead, so I advise you to forget about that last one. I tend to think he simply died. He was an old man, under a lot of stress, was not that healthy to begin with, and may have overmedicated.

On the other hand, nothing would really syrprise me.

Crooks In Business Cults

The Big Business philosophy goes beyond the mere assumption that if you offer a customer a good product at a fair price, he will come back for more. Big business wants to make sure you have no say in the matter, and will get over on you any chance it gets. This has been proven time and again.

Now it's been proven quite visibly with Cingular Wireless, who have now been seen to have given poor service to lower grade customers in an effort to get them to upgrade their service at a higher price. Yep, their asses have been caught up with. But they are not the only ones. I am having the same experience with my local cable company, Charter Cable.

I recently downgraded my service from expanded basic cable to just basic, as a result of which I no longer get Fox News or MSNBC. Boo Hoo.

I get the local channels, including two PBS channels, in addition to C-Span, so that's good enough for me. I also get CNN and ESPN. Or, that is, I am suppossed to get them. The sound quality of CNN is static, and the visual quality of ESPN is likewise. All the other stations come in fine. So, yesterday I finally got around to calling Charter, and after spending quite a few minutes getting connected, I spent even more time being put on hold, before I was finally routed to an agent, who put me on hold while she went to check to "see what the problem is." I was eventually discnnected from her, whereupon I was informed I must go through the proces again.

I hung up in disgust. Fuck Charter, I decided. I am not, under any circumstances, going back to expanded basic, or any of the other packages. I might, however, think about Dish Network, if they don't straighten up their fucking act.

Rare Blood

Now here's some news that is indicative of the progress of science if ever there was. It concerns a certain Northfield Labs. What have they invented, and why is it so great? Well, it's a substance called, Polyheme, and it is-ready now-artificial blood. Synthetic, yet which can if successful adapt to a human blood supply. The uses and benefits are endless. No longer any need for dependence on human blood donors, many of whom may unknowingly or not carry diseases which might in cases go undetectd, until it is too late. A potential complete cure for blood diseases, should this substance eventually be able to replace a humans entire blood supply.

The problem is, of course, it is still in the testing phase, and will probably require some time before it is finaly if ever approved.

Now here comes the scary part. It has to be tested on humans, of course, before it can be certified as being safe. And it is being testd on humans, at various hospitals, who have gotten permission to conduct these tests without having to adhere to usual standards requiring informed consent.

In other words, if you go in for treatment, they don't necessarily have to tell you if they are testing this shit out on you. One hospital that is on the list of facilities involved in the teting of this synthetic blood is University of Kentucky Medical Center.

Thanks to Microsoft Word deciding to act up on me at the worse possible time, I no longer have the list of all the other hospitals that do, but you can find out which ones are involved by going to ABC News.com, the proper url to which I have also temporarily lost. But it should be relatively easy to find.

If you have to go to the hospital for anything more compicated than a flu shot, you might seriously want to think about looking for this list first, or especially if you have an older parent, or a siblign or child, or friend, etc. What you don't know can sometimes hurt you in more ways than you might ever imagine.

UPDATE: I've now recovered the url for the original story on ABC NEWS.com. Go there and read the story, and you will see that, if you live near one of the listed hospital,and find yourself having to avail yourself of their services, you can opt out of having a blood transfusion with this new synthetic blood by asking to be given a blue wristband, which will identify you as not willing to participate. Otherwise, you might very well find yourself in the unfotunate position of receiving what is still an experimental substance that your immune system might eventually reject. And who knows what the consequences of that might be.

I almost forgot to add, the link is in the post title.

Who Would Have Guessed

Now somebody has finally come out and verified the obvious, what I have known for fucking years now-tanning beds are dangerous. Yeah, it has something to do with the ultraviolet light, which seems, amazingly, can give you fucking skin cancer. Well, you could have knocked me over with a fucking feather.

Now that these finding have been released from a study conducted by doctors in Belgium, I wish I was still around some of the same people that used to look at me like I was a fucking idiot when I was telling them this shit TEN FUCKING YEARS AGO!!!!

And what kind of pussy wants to go to a tanning bed anyway, I thought the whole point of a tan was to look like a stud, or a sex siren, or some kind of shit like that, so-ooh, I guess that's it, you don't look so fucking sexy at first so you don't want nobody to see you until you are sufficiently brown, so you have to hide in a tanning booth. I get it.

Tanning booths have a real good game going. It's actually cheap to go for a series of visits. Where they stick it to you is selling you these fucking lotions, specialized scents and all, some of which are quite stimulating, I hear (no I haven't nor ever will try it). One small plastic container about three times thesize of a thimble will run you five dollars and more. A whole like 16 ounce bottle? Usually more than twenty.

Buy yourself a bottle of coppertone and go to the beach, idiots.