Thursday, March 31, 2005

Breaking News, Wolfowitz Opposed by Nader Group

I am happy any time the French cave, though note that France wants in on the action now…

‘France is now said to be lobbying hard for Wolfowitz to choose a Frenchman as his deputy.’

Wolfowitz named World Bank chief

Why they think Wolfowitz would even consider this is beyond me, but who knows what may be going on behind the scenes.

I did notice one interesting point. Agence France-Presse, the source of this article, for no particular reason, quotes the opinion of one Robert Weissman, director of the Essential Action campaign group. A search for this group takes one to the following site.

http://www.essentialaction.org/

Its filled with the usual anti-business and anti American ramblings that you would expect to be associated with an anti-Capitalism site. But the AP has a similar story with the same quotes. The story has been lifted by the worldwide press, from this Charlotte site…

Wolfowitz named World Bank chief

to the Asia Times.

It’s the same crowd that hates the World Bank and the IMF. Going to the About Essential Information (for some reason the name changes, I assume that Essential Action is a Division of Essential Information, at least as far as I can tell.) gives you this little nugget of information…

Founded in 1982 by Ralph Nader…

About Essential Information

So my question is, why do Nader and his ilk get world wide press on their opinions of who should head the World Bank? Because they protest? AFP is one thing, but the AP? Nader followers are, even by the standards of the left, somewhat extreme. I don’t care if these far left types have or publish their views. But it concerns me when it gets presented as a mainstream view in a major newswire service that is reprinted around the world. Hillary Clinton, foreign leaders, Nancy Pelosi…sure, print their opinions. At least there is some relevance. But why these people? To put it politely, WHO CARES! And why is it in this story?

Next thing you know, they’ll be burning US flags in South Korea!

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Pooper Scooper

Man, you guys in California are weird!

Thief Steals Poop From Woman Walking Dog

I'm amazed that the editor let that first sentence get by. I didn't think the AP had a sense of humor.

Update: the text in the linked article above has been changed. In the original, the first sentence was 'The hunt is on for a turd burglar.'

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Blogger Slows Down 85%

Washington DC (TP) – In a dramatic move that has shaken the blogging community, Blogger, a free weblog service offered by Google, has reduced its server speed by 85% as a service to its users. “Based on our research, we believe that the quality of resident blogs will increase dramatically with this move.” said Engineering Director Skip Sessions. “Blogger is committed to providing an outlet for quality blogs and this slow down should give our content providers more time to ponder some of the moronic musings that they write. We expect the quality of blogs to rise proportionally to the amount of slow down.” Asked why the company had settled on 85%, Sessions claimed that it was as slow as they could go without coming to a complete stop.

The slow down is just one of the new services offered by Blogger. A new Drivel Guard has been installed in which blog entries are completely blown away if the content is considered to be incredibly stupid. When a blogger publishes a weblog not deemed worthy of publishing, the Blogger service holds up the entry for a few minutes and then resets itself, completely dumping all of the content. “The hope is that a blogger stupid enough to write this stuff is too stupid to remember what he wrote and write it a second time.”

When questioned, Sessions stated that a particularly idiotic blog had come online a couple of weeks ago, pushing management to implement the new strategy. “We had been contemplating this move for a while because of the number of cat blogs we had been seeing. But the creation of ‘Trans Sient’s Watch’ pushed us over the edge. I mean, what kind of a stupid name is that anyway? How much should the public have to endure? It’s time to take a stand.”

When asked for a reply, the publisher of Trans Sient’s Watch weblog responded by saying, “Err, What Blog?” When asked if that was his real name he said, “Err, What Blog?”

And it’s not over yet. According to Sessions, Blogger’s research and development team is working furiously to come up with new services to reach their objective including online IQ tests for publishers and the banning of cat images all together. “We will rid the internet of this garbage even if it takes two days to publish. Time cannot deter us.”

Monday, March 28, 2005

Maybe Its the Vodka

Man's best friend should be eaten fresh in spring

Dogs have been demoted. Oysters take over top spot. And I can see why!

Pravda is proving to be great fun.

By the way, this weeks 'Personality of the Week' is...you guessed it!

Bobby Fischer

Did Time Warner buy them out or something? I guess Radovan Karadzic will probably take 'Man of the Year'.

My Career as a Psychic Part II

That’s some aftershock. I knew this would happen.

From March 17:
Stay off of the Beach

Mother Nature is piling on. What a true shame.

Quake kills at least 300 on Indonesian island

For the small few that may understand my doubletalk but don’t know the terrain, my crew is OK. I spoke with them tonight. They are not near this. Otherwise I would not be blogging about it, I would be on a plane. Five more days and counting every minute.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

My Career as a Psychic



Well, as I spoke of a week or so ago, I am running a little NCAA basketball tournament experiment. The results are shocking.

Some background: I have never been too much of a basketball fan. I never watch the NBA and rarely watch NCAA basketball. The one team I follow is never any good, so I spend most of basketball season wishing it were baseball season. However, every year it seems my office goes nuts over this tournament. So I joined this years pool with two entries. That's two out of 107, so it is a pretty large pool. The first entry, entry #1, was sort of my control group, where I actually tried to use my limited knowledge to do well. The second, entry #2, was the real experiment. I chose all higher seeds all the way through, and then went with end of season ranking for the final four, culminating with an Illinois championship.

Well, I just got the final 4 report, and my experiment was a semi-failure. Entry #2 is currently in the top 40, but not close enough to winning to prove that all of the armchair analysts wasted their time. Only most of them.

However, my original theory stands. Entry #1 stands a chance of winning it all! If Louisville wins it all, I tie and go to a tie-breaker. If Michigan St. wins it all, beating Louisville in the championship game, I win it all outright. I have blown 99% of the amateur analysts out of the water. I have made the ESPN analysts look silly. How demeaning to the experts it would be to see me, who could care less who wins this stinking tournament, take the big prize. It must be as painful as when women root for the Patriots because Tom Brady is cute, or when someone picks the Marlins because the have nice colors.

Thus my point is proven. The entire thing is a big waste of time. I'll follow up with a final report once this is over.

AWOL Police Repent

Someone contact Chief Ramsey. I have an idea for the DC Police.

Philippine police in Easter rite

"Errant policemen would escape disciplinary measures if they carried a heavy wooden cross", said regional commander Chief Superintendent Rowland Albano.

Happy Easter!

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Who Does Your Hair

Neatly Trimmed! By what standards?

Bobby Fischer, now neatly trimmed, declares he's finished with chess

And here I am linking to Pravda. Isn't the Internet Great!

"The United States is evil. They talk about the axis of evil. What about the allies of evil ... the United States, England, Japan, Australia? These are the evildoers," Fischer said.

Iceland should work...Theres always checkers.

Pretty Fly for a White Guy

University Tries to Trace Indian Ancestry

I think I'll deem myself a Scot. I like plaid. From here on out I'm a Scot, got it? I'm off to sack York...

Friday, March 25, 2005


Ok, next time let me stand on other side!

I Have a Better Plan

AP Exclusive: McGwire falling short, Bonds getting by with Hall voters, survey shows

Maris in, Bonds out, McGwire out. Both Banned for Life. If they can't put Maris and Shoeless Joe in, they shouldn't put these two in either. I would put Pete Rose in before either of them.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Last Rights

It’s all but over and I promise this is the last I will speak of it. Terri Schiavo is almost finished. You can talk all you want about states rights, humane death and brain death. The bottom line is that a woman who cannot in any way speak for herself is about to suffer a state sponsored death sanction. I would rather we just bring in Dr. Kevorkian than do what we are doing (and yes I mean we, as in you, me and everyone).

If I hear someone else bring up states rights I think I’m going to explode. I wonder how full of states rights they were during the civil rights movement. These people will jump right off the states rights issue once this is over. I've even heard someone bring up the cost to tax payers. I'm against using tax money for just about anything. I can make an exception in this case.

And why all of the passion to kill her? I can understand it on the ‘let her live’ side from the whole spectrum, from holy rollers to people like me that just think this stinks. But the ‘let her die’ side is just as passionate, if not more. What’s wrong with people. Even if you think this is the right course, what do you lose if she lives? An argument?

Every judge that reviewed this and ruled against her, other than the first one, Judge Greer, is a coward. They never looked at her case, and only looked at procedure. Judge Greer is just a twisted individual for ruling this way in the first place.

And to compare it to the death penalty is just as dishonest. If Terry Schiavo had gunned down a cop, I would be all for this course of action.

The idea that we will starve someone to death based on the word of someone with a vested interest in her death is unbelievable. All of those in favor of death talk of how nice death by dehydration and starvation are. They then turn around and talk about how her cerebral cortex is gone. Well, if it’s gone, and she’s a vegetable, why all the concern about the humaneness of starvation?

Everyone who can read knows that Terri Schiavo is not what she was. No one knows for sure what exactly she is. Why not let her live, just in case? If she’s really brain dead, it won’t bother her to be alive.

I promise not to do this again.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

We All Have a Purpose, I Guess

In my search for the Constitution Independence Labor Reform Party, I instead stumbled across something more entertaining. The U.S. Marijuana Party. Imagine, you are so wrapped up in your desire for weed that you go through the trouble to start a political party. Moving to Canada would be much less of a hastle. I applaud this group's love of America in that they would change the rest of us rather than leave. Its too bad that such dedication can't be channeled into more important issues such as War, Poverty or the rising cost of Pizza.

It all takes me back to the early 90s when Chris Robinson went to Congress in support of legalized marijuana on the basis that we were in need of a new source of rope. He never realized that he was the poster child for his own opposition. In any case, if there were no losers, there would be no winners. Onward...

What's With People!

This is, of course, a horrific story and I do not mean to make light of it. But the fact that there is an organization called the Libertarian National Socialist Green Party kills me. Especially once you realize they are Nazi types. I suspect their main competitor is the Constitution Independence Labor Reform Party. I'll check into it.

School gunman stole police pistol, vest

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Breaking News!!

Document: Bin Laden Evaded U.S. Forces

This is Getting Pathetic

Arrested for Bringing Water

Thank Goodness its in Georgia

The last thing we need around DC is more pork.

Documentary Confirms Hogzilla's Existence

Monday, March 21, 2005

More Cheese, More Whine

France Dismantles Its 35-Hour Workweek

Which explains why the police now have more time for...

French police turn attention to 'the pimp on the corner'

What I find interesting is that Prostitution is legal, but Pimping is not. Someone explain that for me please.

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Probably Over

Schiavo case goes to appeals panel Updated 3/23/05 2327

Judge Rejects Schiavo Appeal Updated 3/22/05 0751

Judge Won't Issue Decision on Schiavo Yet Updated 3/21/05 2016

House Delays Vote on Schiavo's Fate Updated 3/20/05 1530

Congress Announces Deal in Schiavo Case

Congress agrees on Schiavo bill

After the first round

It's a tie. Bracket number 1, in which I tried to pick the NCAA tournament victors, and bracket number 2, in which I just went with the higher seeds all the way through, are tied, both with 24 out of 32 possible correct picks. There are 107 people in the pool. Both of my entries are in the top half, tied with about 30 others. The next round should separate the men from the boys.

So, the bracket that took me about 30 seconds to complete is doing just as well the other, and better than more than half of the experts that wasted the greater part of an afternoon researching and analyzing their picks.

Friday, March 18, 2005

Seeing Green




Ok, its the day after St. P Day. In any case, a day late seems appropriate.

I don't know what to say. I'll just post.

House lawyers appeal Schiavo case to Supreme Court

Brain-Damaged Woman's Feeding Tube Removed

Someone else said it already..

BlogsforTerri

15 Minutes

People like this make me feel much better about myself...

Russian man survives for hour in freezing water

The look on his face says it all

Natural Selection has failed us

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Stay off of the Beach

And if the ocean goes away...leave...quickly.

I wasn't going to post any tsunami stuff, thinking it might be bad karma. But my crew is on the other side of the Malay Peninsula, for anyone who might be wondering.

Seismologists: Another Sumatran quake likely

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Finally, Hedonistic Republicans!!

Party On!

I think she missed the point. Libertarians aren't necessarily raving sex fiends. They just don't give a rat’s rear end what others do if it doesn't affect them.

My Time Waste Experiment

Scott Peterson will die. Robert Blake won't. We will drill in ANWR.

So what are people in the office concerned about these days? The NCAA tournament of course. I have little or no interest in this tournament. I really don't care who wins. The intricacies of the Southern Illinois/St. Mary’s game don't turn me on. However, the amazing amount of time people waste on this does. So I am going to run a little experiment. I have filled out two brackets. One where I actually tried to do well and one where I picked the higher seeds in every game. The intent is to see if wasting massive amounts of time on the picks does any good. For the final four, I went by end of season rank as the determinate for winners.

I recognize several flaws in this approach. The foremost being my own lack of expertise in basketball. However, the site that I am using shows how I do vs. other experts. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

I'd rather have the Bird Flu...

Korean dish 'may cure bird flu'

Speaking of Korea, I am a little miffed that the South Koreans are now cutting off their fingers while burning the Japanese flag. I don't recall the US flag getting this kind of attention when they were burning it. I seem to remember someone setting themselves on fire for something. Perhaps that was it. MG help me out here. Its been a while.

Japanese Flag Burned

By the way, for those not in the know, they are fighting over a group of desolate islands. I think they are near Okidoke Island. Hope that helps.

Its Almost

That time of year

The Washington Nationals

Monday, March 14, 2005

Big Lie Comes True

There is only one way to reconcile the fact that Bush lied and the facts in this story. In the same way that Dan Rather's National Guard story was fake but accurate, Bush lied but was right. It was an accident. There can be no other explanation. How convenient that the facts will now back up the big lie. Some people are just lucky.

Warning: Need a NYTimes account to read

Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Iraqi Says

I am aware...

As pointed out by my Navy Connections, that a sub that has run aground can't sink. So perhaps it was not so amazing after all.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

OK, Now I'm Ready

I've been messing around this morning trying to get this site to work. Since the family is out of town, I have some time and thought I would make this blog as a way to keep in touch with my own circle of friends and family. I probably will not post pictures of myself or family as this is a public site and I do not want every freak in the world to have them. In any case, feel free to read, comment or ignore this site all together.

On Sports

Steve and Phil At It Again

Eat Your Heart Out Peter!

My Career as a Psychic is Over

My Career as a Psychic

I Have a Better Plan

My Time Waste Experiment

On Politics

Public Against Obstinant Politicians

Dean Forgets that Schiavo is Dead

Smart Judges Need Not Apply

More on Nukes (Filibuster This)

Oh, Give It Up

Sandy was Framed...Whatever

Breaking News, Wolfowitz Opposed by Nader Group

We All Have a Purpose, I Guess

Big Lie Comes True

On China

Chinese Racism and Nationalism

AP Helps China Defend Human Rights Record

More China Worries

Reactionary

The New Cold War

Nature at fault for Pollution in Beijing

On International Issues

Aljazeera Tossed from Iran

Romania to Align with US, Britain

Forget the Nukes, This is Catastrophic

Corruption and Imperialism

Who Does Your Hair

More Cheese, More Whine

I'd rather have the Bird Flu...

Test

This is my first crack at seeing if this thing actually works.