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Thursday, January 03, 2008

Obama, Huckabee score victories in Iowa

Wins give momentum in next week's New Hampshire vote
Sheldon Alberts, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, January 03, 2008

Hmmmm. I wish I could get more excited about this. I'm distracted by voter rolls being purged of "dead wood" in San Diego .

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

TV cuts candidates from debates, angering Paul backers

art.paul.gi.jpg

Fox News says it has limited space in its studio, which leaves Rep. Ron Paul out of a weekend debate.

The roster of participants for ABC's back-to-back, prime-time Republican and Democratic debates Saturday in New Hampshire will be determined after results of Thursday's Iowa caucus become clear.

Fox, meanwhile, has invited five GOP candidates to a forum with Chris Wallace scheduled for its mobile studio in New Hampshire on Sunday. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee received invites, leaving Paul of Texas and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California on the sidelines.



I'm not a Ron Paul fan, but I see what's going on. Is that going to stop me from voting in the primaries? Nope.

Monday, December 31, 2007

Dickheads of the Year

My picks for the biggest assholes of 2007 by Bill Maher (click on title link)

Mr. Maher mentions this guy second




& I found some local dickheads:

Least efficient executives based on decline in stock price
from
San Diego's Highest Paid Executives

Here are San Diego's biggest stories of 2007.

I'm glad this year is over. It sucked.


Moving on. I have been a bit curious about the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" & I guess I was waiting for Larry to blog about it. My wait is over and he says about what I expected him to. This is my favorite quote:

...The movie also tries to gloss over the fact that the United States was funding some of the mujahideen–Haqqani and Hekmatayar in particular–that we are now fighting in Afghanistan....

I became disenchanted with Julia Roberts anyway when I found out she was Donald Rumsfeld's neighbor. I'm sure her bank account won't suffer without my ten measly bucks.


Eco Friendly at the 100 year anniversary.

Hey, didn't it use to snow in New York?

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Kidney stone

My husband passed a kidney stone this weekend in the hospital. Friday night in any ER is a nightmare and I'm glad he was able to drive himself. They sprung him this morning. They didn't catch it so we don't what kind it was.

(Wikipedia : Often described as the "worst pain ever felt")

He came back and said *sigh* "I gotta change my diet." I looked at him and I just couldn't resist saying "Well, I hate to say I told you so, but let's just get this over with...."

He laughed.

Go. Read. This (click right here)

Just tripping around my blogtopia (yes, skippy coined that phrase) landed me on yet another Assclowns of the Week. A stupendous one, thanks for that JP.

(I'm still LMAO)...

Oh. My. God.


Make sure you take JP's advice and go HERE to see The BEAST 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2007

...ROFL

Friday, December 28, 2007

Bhutto assasination

It's everywhere.

The Benazir Bhutto assassination and fallout story is everywhere.

Was It Al Qaeda?

Was it Musharraf?

Was it the Taliban?

Will Pakistan explode into violence?

Will the violence spread? After all, the Indo-Pak dialogue on Kashmir is sham

THE DEATH OF BENAZIR: COMES THE WHIRLWIND
Fri Dec 28, 6:09 PM ET

I haven't said anything because I'm intentionally uninformed about the history of the country. I'm learning, yeesh, what a train wreck. I wonder if it's intentionally underdeveloped, like
most of Africa? (although I don't believe in reparations, there are just too many people on the planet to worry about the past, it's the future that I'm worried about, duh!)

Lousy haircut

My hair is hard to cut. It can't be too long, or too short and it needs to be easy to deal with. I'm not one of those women who wants to spend three hours primping. I don't use hairspray, sculpting gel, spiking gel, hair grease, curling irons or even blow dryers for that matter. I don't like crunchy, fried, dried out, or greasy hair, and a halfway decent haircut means I don't have that kind of hair. I can usually get one for less than $20, although I really miss the $75 ones. This one guy was great but he went to teach at some brand name hair school in San Francisco. Not your everyday beauty school, this place. Fucking awesome haircuts, he should be teaching.

Occasionally I get a haircut so bad that it requires some primping but this is fucking ridiculous. I need a hat, or to get my kid to take the buzz clipper to it. I hate hats, and I'm too old to get a buzz clip without looking like a bull dyke (not that I have a problem with them, I'm just not one, and I don't want to look like one). This cut sucks and I'm pissed.

This woman said she cut hair in Tehran for 6 years. Are you fucking kidding me? It's a damn good thing the women have to wear hijab there. Hey maybe it's safe to take them off now that this woman is out of the city. No, never mind, the religious police gotta love this woman.

"Hey guys, you can have her back, you won't see any hair peeping out after one of this woman's cuts, she should make your jobs really easy."

How
did this bitch get her license here? She had the balls to tell me when I tried to get her to fix it that it was perfect. I think she was bound and determined to leave a mess and she did.

There was something funny about her eyes and mannerisms too. I've seen that look before. That hard, numb, 'seen too much' look.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Reading now

So one of these books was an impulse buy. Curiosity about companions that I didn't really have a choice about a loooooooong time ago.

The "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein was not.


Update: I'll let Naomi tell you what the book is about.

I finally finished Treacherous Alliance by Trita Parsi. I had to keep putting it down because it pissed me off. It's definitely worth reading. It's just one more bit of evidence that proves that the rhetoric that politicians spew for their countrymen and the world is absolute bullshit. They're angling for hegemony, all of 'em. What is it with men and power?

Ron Paul fans, please pull your heads out of your asses

Do your homework, go check out his voting record:

Representative Ronald Ernest 'Ron' Paul (TX)

It seems a bit contradictory in some areas, and last time I checked a rabid anti-choice voting record was not what you could call 'libertarian.' He plays into the typical white male fundie "gotta control what women do with their body" mindset. Men who have that attitude with me generally get bit. It's usually boys (no matter what their age) who have never experienced the joy of a midnight ER visit with a kid who is so dehydrated from diarrhea that the only thing that will save the kid is a couple of IV fluid bags with a heavy duty antibiotic thrown in. Boys who act like their responsibility as a father is to provide some financial help and sit on the couch, burp and fart, and watch the Simpsons.

Fuck that. Most mothers work a full-time job also, and they sure as fuck don't want to take care of their job, the kids, the cooking, the house-cleaning, the bills, and your sorry ass too. When she wants a Calgon take me away, hour long bath you had better get your stupid ass off the couch and watch the kids, they're your kids too, godamnit! And either order pizza or make dinner for the family. Your responsibility as a father does not begin with a sperm donation and end with a paycheck. ¿Entiendes chico?

Ok then. Here's a little more on Paul:

The Freedom to Starve
Why the Left Should Reject Ron Paul
By SHERRY WOLF
12/26/07 "Counterpunch'


Ron Paul is a weasel in interviews. He manages to evade questions that might give you an idea of what he would really be about in the Oval Office. I hate sneaky people. I don't like the guy. Holy crap, here he is in his own words . The ultimate in baffle 'em with bullshit.

Ayn Rand?
Milton Freedmen?


Blech. A selfish self-centered spoiled rotten cunt and a man who sucked off the government teat for what, fifteen, twenty years? Fucking hypocrite. Read about their lives, critically and you'll see the selfishness, the hypocrisy and ridiculousness.

Get a clue, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE MARKET THAT WORKS FOR ANYONE BUT THE RICH .


It does work for the rich and powerful
Find out what Leo Strauss and his elitist fuckwad disciples are really up to.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

religion sucks 7

Okee dokee, I waited till after Christmas to resume blogging the religion sucks thing, but I just couldn't resist this:

Hindus Launch Attacks on Indian Churches

Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007
ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press Writer

(AP) - NEW DELHI-Hindu extremists attacked Christians celebrating Christmas in eastern India, ransacking and burning six churches after a dispute over a holiday cultural program that some Hindus believed encouraged conversion, officials said Wednesday...

...India is an overwhelmingly Hindu country where Christians account for a mere 2.4 percent of 1.1 billion people...

The surge is working, right?

Sunni and Shiite militants began blowing up salons roughly two years ago. They killed several stylists and bullied others into putting down their scissors and makeup brushes for good, all in an effort to stamp out what they view as the corrupting spread of Western culture.

Besides beauty salons, militants have also targeted liquor stores, barber shops and Christian churches.

We's winnin' that war over there, right?

You know, the one thing that my immigrant Muslim neighbor and I agree that we both really love about America is that you can choose to practice your religion or not. We don't proselytize , but we are both happy to experience the joy of giving when our different religions tell us it's the customary time to do that. The whole taarof thing is still a bit confusing to me, but I figure we can learn from each other.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Back in July (7.13.07) I remember watching the PBS NOW show titled

"Emission Impossible?"
This week NOW investigates not only California's aggressive stance against global warming, but also strong political opposition standing in the way of its expansion. Are California and the Environmental Protection Agency headed for a showdown?

Bush Slams California on Climate Change
Ann Carlson - HuffPo
Posted December 20, 2007
05:58 PM (EST)
Three days ago I suggested - naively - that perhaps the Bush Administration would turn in the right direction on climate change and grant California a waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. It hasn't and the EPA didn't...

EPA says no to California's emissions plan
By Juliet Eilperin

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Kevin Martin is a piece of work

Dissenting Statement of Michael Copps on FCC Media Cross-Ownership Ruling
By Michael J. Copps.

Among my favorite quotes:

...We shed crocodile tears for the financial plight of newspapers—yet the truth is that newspaper profits are about double the S&P 500 average...

and:
Bill Moyers exposed the real chumps (FCC rethug ho's)last Friday.

Free Press on new media rules

FCC accepts Google's application for major spectrum auction next month
Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007

Posted 12/18/2007 @ 3:55pm
FCC Votes for Monopoly, Congress Must Vote for Democracy

San Diego County is run by schmucks

By Craig Gustafson
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
4:23 p.m. December 18, 2007
The county is suing California Secretary of State Debra Bowen over conditions she placed on the use of voting machines in the Feb. 5 presidential primary.
In August, Bowen severely restricted the use of touch-screen voting machines in San Diego and 19 other counties, citing an independent review that found machines made by three manufacturers could be easily manipulated. She also laid down a number of conditions on the use of other, more traditional voting machines....

You see the crap I deal with?
Oy. Oy Vey.

Oh and look, Brad spotlights the same fucking problem in Phoenix that we have in San Diego, Diebold GEMS tabulators:

And this is for all you local Grover Norquist fans: privatize this bitches

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

MySpace Friends

----The Suicide Reportedly Resulting from a MySpace Friendship that Turned Abusive: Could It Provide the Basis for a Successful Tort Lawsuit?
By ANTHONY J. SEBOK ----

When I first read the title of this OpEd I thought "What, are you kidding me?"

Then I read it.

Umm, Mrs. Drew? It looks like you enjoyed junior high a bit too much, but it's really time to grow the fuck up. Your job is not to be your kid's best friend, it's to be a mother. Right now you suck at that job. Don't tell me it's hard because I know it's hard. I did it.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Republican congressman defies Bush administration, pledges probe into destroyed CIA tapes

Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007
HOPE YEN Associated Press Writer

Mmmmm hmmm, sure, when monkies fly out of my ass.

Maybe
Hoekstra can investigate Blackwater also.

Sure, he'll just check out his hometown cronies,rrriiiiiigggghhhhttt, sure buddy.


The FCC is up to their old tricks and the above article looks like more junk news to me.


Watch the junk news video.

Heh, it's only three minutes, and the music is fun. I love the stuff Danny digs up.

Oh. My. God. listen to this.

Well well, whadaya know?


Fitrakis & Wasserman were right, and I knew it!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

12-14-07: UPDATE on Iowa Caucus Procedures

Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 3:09 pm:
By Bev Harris

Coming Jan. 3, 2007: The famous Iowa caucuses. Traditionally considered a critical sign of candidate viability, results in Iowa can make or break candidate funding and public image. What problems can affect caucuses?...

As I'm reading the above linked BBV update I've got a million things flying around in this little squirrel brain of mine.

I'm wondering how the hell a state which makes me think of corn and pigs got so much power to pick the presidential candidates? Really folks, wtf is frickin' Iowa known for except corn, pigs and the Iowa Caucuses? I'm not trying to offend Iowans, I've heard that they take this stuff really seriously. It's just that I take my city and my state to be of more importance because of the population and economy size.

Besides, I have to live here and

we have

real problems

here.

Anyone who thinks that elections are clean and fair in San Diego is plumb crazy.

They'll try to steal 08 also.
And they just might have the peeps and machinery in place already.



San Diego's motto is "Ever Vigilant?"

Yeah, maybe to the Grover Norquist fans, and Jarvisites . I'd like to drown those fuckers in the bathtub. Not in the ocean, it's too damn polluted.

I understand vigilance also.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Huckabee Rising

Huckabee Rising
Republican Presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Brooks Kraft / Corbis for TIME

Oh Lord help us.


What is wrong with these religious nutjobs?

Huckabee's fair tax? my ass And Yeah, why are Republicans, especially the religious nutjob types, such fucking idiots?

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Ho Ho Ho's -- Buh Bye, Hammers slammed


California Town Rejects Blackwater, Fires Council Members Who Endorsed Them

Posted by Paddy , Cliff Schecter's Blog at 5:33 AM on December 12, 2007.



Update: Rick Jacobs explains why rare triumph of democracy IS a big deal, and yet, the Blackwater slime will continue to ooze into San Diego without vigilant battle from local residents.

I wonder also if this isn't a message to the greedy assholes who think that all government functions should be privatized.

Monday, December 10, 2007

NYT Monday Dec 10, 2007

December 10, 2007
Disability Cases Last Longer as Backlog Rises
By ERIK ECKHOLM


December 10, 2007
Philharmonic Agrees to Play in North Korea
By DANIEL J. WAKIN

December 10, 2007
The Long Run
Crime Buster With Eye on the Future
By MICHAEL POWELL

December 10, 2007
Republican Candidates Firm on Immigration
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARC SANTORA

December 10, 2007
Unlikely Ally Against Congo Republic Graft
By LYDIA POLGREEN



December 10, 2007
Flying Humans, Hoping to Land With No Chute
By MATT HIGGINS



December 10, 2007
By CHOE SANG-HUN
South Korea Cleans Up Big Oil Spill


December 10, 2007
Opposition to Take Part in Pakistan Election
By CARLOTTA GALL

December 10, 2007
News Analysis
Screenwriters Dig In for an Extended Brawl
By MICHAEL CIEPLY

Saturday, December 08, 2007

EU-Africa summit begins


Muammar Gaddafi called for compensation from former colonial powers [AFP]

The second ever EU-Africa summit has started in Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, in the presence of 67 leaders from the two continents, including Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.


Terry has a great post on local Blackwater shenanigans

Friday, December 07, 2007

Al Qaida uses girls to do their dirty work

Female suicide bomber attacks local anti-al-Qaida group, kills 15 outside Baghdad, police say
HAMID AHMED Associated Press Writer Friday, Dec. 7, 2007

(AP) - BAGHDAD-A female suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt Friday outside the offices of a local anti-al-Qaida group that has joined forces with the U.S., killing at least 15 people, police officials said. It was Iraq's second suicide attack involving a woman in less than two weeks.


The article doesn't say where these women come from. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

WaPo Th Decempber 6, 2007

Bush Wins Agreement To Freeze Mortgages
Hard-Up Owners Won't See Adjustable Rates Soar
By David Cho and Neil Irwin
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A01

Japan's Bloggers: Humble Giants of the Web
By Blaine Harden
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A01

As N.H. Primary Nears, Clinton Clings to Narrow Lead
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A01

Plea Deal Expected In Military Sex Case
Chaplain Accused Of Abusing Power
By Josh White and Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A01

Study Questions Va. Driver Fees, Raising the Possibility of Repeal
By Anita Kumar and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 6, 2007; A01

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

More muslim extremist idiocy

Yeah. And I thought Christians were stupid for believing that some dude rose from the dead. And the Jews were assholes for thinking that they were God's chosen people.

Religious boobs are squirting out brats like there's no tomorrow.



Helloooooooooo?




Reality check

Is our children learning?

Teen births tilt up, unmarried rate hits record
Wed Dec 5, 2007 5:26pm EST
By Will Dunham

Batshit crazy people

LA Times T Dec 4, 2007, & today's UT

Iran's nuclear ambitions on hold, U.S. agencies conclude
Intelligence experts say such work has been shelved for now -- a change in consensus with major implications for U.S. policy.
By Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

China's man at the anchor desk
BROADCAST NEWS IN CHINA: “I don’t feel that any of us are employed to be stooges,” Edwin Maher says of fellow foreigners at China’s English-language television station, CCTV. “But obviously there are limits.” Above, he relaxes in Beijing.
Westerner Edwin Maher reads government 'news' for Beijing TV. He ignores those who call him a sellout.
By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

A desire to curry voters' favor outweighs earlier calls for fiscal responsibility.For Congress, election imperils balanced budget
By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

BASEBALL
Walter O'Malley's long road to the Hall of Fame

Ex-priest pleads guilty in molestation scandal
Michael Stephen Baker's case was a key part of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's fight to withhold records.
By John Spano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007
Former Roman Catholic priest Michael Stephen Baker, who authorities say ranks among the Los Angeles Archdiocese's most prolific child molesters, pleaded guilty Monday to sexually abusing two boys and was sentenced to 10 years and four months in prison.

Chavez revolution takes hit in election
Crime, shortages, student opposition combine to help erode support for the Venezuelan president. His constitutional reform plan is narrowly defeated.
By Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 4, 2007

Powell's turns the page
The legendary Portland, Ore., bookstore has been a how-to guide for surviving Internet and chain rivals. So why is its owner so nervous?
By Scott Timberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 3, 2007

Today's fiswrap
Tecate police official slain
Killing occurs hours after tunnel is found
By Anna Cearley
and Sandra Dibble
STAFF WRITERS
December 5, 2007
Juan José Soriano Pereira, 35, who was described as second in command of Tecate's police force, was shot to death in his bed about 2 a.m. yesterday, said Sonia Patricia Navarro, who oversees Baja California's state investigative police force. Soriano was hit by 45 bullets, Navarro said...
...An armed man escaped by ducking into the passageway, leaving behind bundles of marijuana. The Drug Enforcement Administration said yesterday that the drugs weighed 13,776 pounds. No detentions had been made on either side of the border...

Almost seven tons of pot abandoned and a dead high-ranking local Mexican cop. Could someone please tell me why marijuana is illegal again? I don't get it, & neither does Norm Stamper who started out as a San Diego beat cop, and he doesn't think the "War on Drugs" has been successful.

Leslie over at No Quarter has a fantastic blog post on the military-industrial-congressional-complex and their insidious inclusion in the "war on terrorism."

Documentary on Blackwater in Potrero

COUNTY WILDFIRES
Tracing the root of a fire takes time
Power lines, transformers likely caused most of blazes
By J. Harry Jones and Kristina Davis
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
November 11, 2007

Monday, December 03, 2007

NYT Mon Dec3,2007

Venezuela Hands Narrow Defeat to Chávez Plan
December 3, 2007
by Simon Romero
Party’s Triumph Raises Question of Putin’s Plans
December 3, 2007
New Orleans Hurt by Acute Rental Shortage
December 3, 2007
By SUSAN SAULNY
For Justices, Another Day on Detainees
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
December 3, 2007
Supreme Court Memo
Lonely No More, Huckabee Faces Hurdles
December 3, 2007
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Nevada Learns to Cash In on Sales of Federal Land
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY
December 3, 2007
Public Lands
By JESSE McKINLEY and GRIFFIN PALMER
Trouble on a Vital Road in Afghanistan December 3, 2007
By C. J. CHIVERS

Yesterday's view





Dudes.
I haven't been sailing in over ten years.
I haven't seen the people who took Anna and me sailing yesterday in probably twenty years. They're still lovely people.
Good, kind, intelligent people who do important work for those in need.
For yesterday I am grateful.
I'm still grinning.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Not in a good mood this morning. My shows weren't on last night, the extra credit points are just more work on a subject that has never been interesting to me and I need to get my doofball husband out of the way so I can clean.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Man, you know you're getting old when...

an interesting Friday night plan is to get extra credit points for a class and then plop in front of the teevee to watch PBS shows.

Tonight's shows are right up my alley:


Will The 2008 Vote Be Fair?
How safe is your right to vote? Former Justice Department official and voting rights lawyer David Becker, who worked under both President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton, alleges a systematic effort to deny the vote to hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Americans. In a revealing interview with NOW's David Brancaccio, Becker openly worries that the 2008 election will not be free and fair. Is our government part of the solution, or part of the problem?

And from NOW to Bill Moyers Journal

Christians United for Israel (CUFI)

Ronald J. Sider and M.J. Rosenberg
November 30, 2007
A look at the headlines related to this week's conference on Mideast peace in Annapolis might leave a reader confused about expectations and results:
"Restraint in Quest for Peace," THE NEW YORK TIMES; "Annapolis Talks Prompt Much Doubt, a Few Jokes, in Mideast," THE WASHINGTON POST, "Olmert warns of 'end of Israel'," THE BBC, "Annapolis conference gave Rice little to build on," NEWSDAY.

THE ECONOMIST was especially blunt in its assessment of results: "Better than nothing. For now, that is the most that can be said of the new Arab-Israeli 'peace process' George Bush inaugurated in Annapolis on November 27th."

Moyers Mailbag

And this is what I watched last night. Fas-ki-na-tin stuff, focusing on the M-I-C in San Diego.

And finally, I've been following the story about the teacher who let the kids in her class name a teddy bear Muhammed and I really don't understand why this teacher wasn't flown home to Britain. Now the locals want to kill her. Something funny here.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Wapo Th Nov 29

Moscow May Host Middle East Follow-Up
Interest Growing in Talks On Israel-Syria Relations
By Robin Wright and Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A01

In Debate, Romney and Giuliani Clash on Immigration Issues
By Michael D. Shear and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A0

Municipal Bond Deals Squeezed By Credit Crisis
By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A01

Foes Use Obama's Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A01

Old Allies Abandon Chávez as Constitution Vote Nears
By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A01