Ok now it's Christmas.

This was a table top Christmas tree that was around a foot tall and half dead when I planted it six years ago. My husband is pooped since I made him throw the lights over the top from the roof, and mess around with a broom. I managed to stand on top of the ladder close to the trunk inside the branches and mess around with a sponge mop. It ain't perfect and it's a far cry from the Candy Cane Lane that I and my helpful neighbor drove through tonight, which had Sponge Bob and Disney Characters eveywhere, but it's Christmas and I like it. I managed to poke my eye with a needle and I don't know how you do that with glasses on, but I did. It was mildly uncomfortable for a while, but it's OK now. I managed to score a thirty dollar tree for inside the house for ten bucks and got 3 sets of 300 lights for twelve bucks. My little table top tree that had a half dozen lights on it now requires at least thirteen hundred lights. (close to four hundred feet)

Dude.

Friday sqirrel blogging

They're not out, it's too cold. Hey, don't laugh, we get frost on the roofs here. And the poor litle dears have had to close off the burrows because we've had rain. Here are some birds I caught the other day.


I love the rain, makes me want to go swimming. We only got booted out of workouts a half dozen times because of lightning. Most of the swimming pools in San Diego are outdoor pools, they have covers so that they don't lose heat at night in the winter.

Arkansas family welcomes 18th child, a girl

1 hr 1 min ago


Yeesh. I'm already disgusted because I'm cleaning the oven today. This lady's oven ain't never clean, always got a damn bun in it. Blech. Dirty diapers for 20 years? Ugh. My kid got to be about ten & I couldn't do other kids' shitty diapers anymore without gagging. I told her to shoot my ass before I got so bad that she had to change my diapers. Hell I can't even walk my friend's little dog, let the footpath be fouled, I can't pick up the poop, I gag.

Crude Oil Falls Below $40 on OPEC Skepticism, U.S. Supply Gain

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Oil fell below $40 a barrel for the first time in more than four years as OPEC failed to convince traders that the glut in crude will diminish and the U.S. government said supplies climbed for the 11th time in 12 weeks.




Umm, yeah, so why did the price of gas in San Diego go up instead of continuing to go down like it has been?


Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008



Ga. judge jails Muslim woman over head scarf
By DIONNE WALKER Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) - A Georgia judge ordered a Muslim woman arrested Tuesday for contempt of court for refusing to take off her head scarf at a security checkpoint.

The judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta's west suburban outskirts.

Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing any headgear in court, police said.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in Georgia.

"I just felt stripped of my civil, my human rights," Valentine told The Associated Press on Wednesday from her home, after she said she was unexpectedly released once CAIR got involved. Jail officials declined to say why she was freed.

Municipal Court Judge Keith Rollins said that "it would not be appropriate" for him to comment on the case.

Last year, a judge in Valdosta in southern Georgia barred a Muslim woman from entering a courtroom because she would not remove her head scarf. There have been similar cases in other states, including Michigan, where a Muslim woman in Detroit filed a federal lawsuit in February 2007 after a judge dismissed her small-claims court case when she refused to remove a head and face veil.

Valentine's husband, Omar Hall, said his wife was accompanying her nephew to a traffic citation hearing when officials stopped her at the metal detector and told her she would not be allowed in the courtroom with the head scarf, known as a hijab.

Hall said Valentine, an insurance underwriter, told the bailiff that she had been in courtrooms before with the scarf on and that removing it would be a religious violation. When she turned to leave and uttered an expletive, Hall said a bailiff handcuffed her and took her before the judge.

2008-12-17 16:12:26 GMT

Holy fuck. What part of "you want the benefits of living in this country you follow the rules" do these dipshit women not understand? Maybe it's their insecure dipshit husbands we should be talking to?

I laugh every time

Stimulus Package To First Pay for Routine Repairs

By Alec MacGillis and Michael D. ShearWashington Post Staff Writers Sunday, December 14, 2008; Page A01

Damn. Gah. I'll let Kuntsler tell you.

Drought parches much of the U.S., may get worse

At least 36 states expect to face water shortages within the next five years, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, several regions in particular have been hit hard: the Southeast, Southwest and the West. Texas, Georgia and South Carolina have suffered the worst droughts this year, the agency said.

Stephen Gardner, former CEO of Peregrine Systems, sentenced to prison

Peregrine Systems

I haven't really followed this story, but the name of the company might have forced those in power in the company to run it cleaner than most companies.

Remember "Falcon and the Snowman?"

Whenever I hear the name of the company I hear this or this .

And here's the Friday squirrel (Aug pic)

Oil prices near $48 a barrel as dollar falls

By JOHN PORRETTO
AP Energy Writer
Posted on Thu, Dec. 11, 2008 06:40 AM
Oil prices rose 10 percent Thursday as the dollar continued to lose value, making commodities like crude more attractive.

What's with this anyway?

Dude. My clocks finally came. Almost exactly a month with no kitchen clock

Thank you to those of you who humored me by voting on a clock, but I had to pick one I could live with. And I decided to put one in the bathroom.

I have my "Reasons Why" (10/13/07) local group



.... And goddamnit, but the fucking thing is running slow. This is starting to get creepy. I've had no luck with getting a clock for that spot. They run fast, slow, they don't work at all, the second hand falls off, what's the deal here folks?


Update 2:00 PM 12/10/2008 This is the kind of customer service e-mail exchange I can live with:

Question: The Time Is Now Wall Clock
Product Number: 104742570

clock runs slow, I want it exchanged, I already paid for shipping, I don't want to do it again.


From: CafePress.com Support Team (support@cafepress.com)
Sent: Wed 12/10/08 12:17 PM
To: Nunya (xxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx)

Dear Nunya,

I am sorry to hear your order was not received in perfect condition. I want you to be 100% satisfied with your CafePress.com experience.

I am ordering you a replacement right away at no additional charge. You should receive the replacement by 12/24/08.

I know the item you received is not up to your complete satisfaction, however, I do not want you to incur any extra charges sending the item back. Please discard the defective item.
If there is anything else I can do for you please let me know.

Best Regards,

XXXXXXXXXX X.
CafePress.com Support Associate


Done. I hope it's recyclable, cause that's the bin it went in. Yes, I took the battery out. So I might have a clock by Christmas. I've been clocked before, and I've been cursed at, but never before have I been cursed when it came to clocks. This is weird.

Florida, Oy

Brad has footage you have got to see to believe. Govt there appears to be more corrupt than it is in San Diego. Or maybe they just don't gussie it up with pretty words there like they do here.

I'm listening to a local NPR show with mayor Jerry Sanders this morning and I'm smelling a return to the backroom, rethug, sold to the highest bidder bullshit that has characterized San Diego government since about 1870. Even with Marty Emerald, the ex-consumer advocate on the city council, and a couple more dems on it after the election.

The guy who replaced the city attorney is a repug, we'll see if he graduates to RepugnantThuglican, but I liked the Aguirre brothers. "Both men carry a fiery zeal to fight for justice, and both have an ingrained sense of duty to what used to be called the American Way". Probably not a big jump considering he's a judge. I don't like judges. Not because I personally have ever been screwed over by one, but because I don't trust them. Think about it. Who do you think they play golf with?

Elites is elites is elites. Period.

Fighter jet crash kills 3 on ground in San Diego

6:26 PM 12/8/2008
Ooops. Gee, sorry about your house. Umm, yeah and your wife and kids too.
(click on pic)

Actually this is quite rare. I don't ever remember hearing about a military jet crash killing people and burning down homes in San Diego before. Not in the last 35 years anyway. This particular plane came off of the Lincoln. No way in hell this plane would have left my husband's shop when he was on the Lincoln before he retired, not with him in QA. There's a lot of things about my old man that piss me off, but his ability to do his job right is definitely not one of them. I think he only lost two planes in his 24 year career and he was pushed to get them out during this (the 2nd) Gulf war a few years ago. He's pretty frickin' stubborn about doing some things right, as am I.

Rumsfeld nemesis Shinseki to be named VA secretary

By HOPE YEN – 20 hours ago

Heh.

Ratbastard

Donald Rumsfeld is an evil ratbastard II

Prop (h)8 is complex legal stuff

The Core Issues in the Proposition 8 Case Before the California Supreme Court: Was Proposition 8 a Valid Amendment, or an Invalid Revision, to the California Constitution? And Should the Court - Or Governor Schwarzenegger - Make the Decision?
By VIKRAM DAVID AMAR and ALAN BROWNSTEIN
Friday, Dec. 05, 2008
This is the second in a multi-part series on the California Supreme Court's recent decision to address the validity of Proposition 8, the voter-enacted alteration to the California constitution foreclosing same-sex marriage, approved by state voters in November. Readers may wish to refer to Part I of the series for more background. - Ed.

Oh boy, now my head is really spinning.

This isn't stunning to me
--Fuck Snottsdale


Tonight PBS NOW (web link works, but it wasn't on tv)
Our Pakistan Problem

And here's why I hate football, and why Raiders fans consistently leave a bad taste in my mouth. You know how many birthdays I've had ruined by football games? A bunch, lemmee tell ya.

Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People

Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008
Thursday December 4th 10/9c

I'm blogging instead of watching her and Limbaugh. I got to where he said he WAS worth 38 million a year and I wanted to yank his cochlear implant out of his head with my bare hands and stuff it down his throat. That or beat it with an aluminium baseball bat, he oughta love that sound about as much as I love listening to his overpaid corporate whore ass.

Before she covered PustuleButt Limbaugh she covered Michael Phelps. Frankly, anyone who thinks that swimmers are fascinating doesn't know shit about the sport, although Phelps' accomplishments are an anomaly, like his physique. It's the most tedious fucking sport on the planet. It never bothered me because I have a great imagination. I ended up with bruises in weird places (Achilles tendons can get bruised, did you know that?) from not paying attention on turns, but oh well, I love the water. It also got me out of the house for 5-6 hours a day depending on traffic.

Update 11pm
Yes, Barack Obama is the most fascinating person of 2008.

Mexico Drug Cartels Send A Message of Chaos, Death

By William Booth
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 4, 2008; Page A01

A Mexican soldier escorts a drug suspect arrested this week in Tijuana. Cartels and their cells are fighting police, the army and one another. (By Guillermo Arias -- Associated Press)

When someone rolled five heads onto the dance floor in a cantina in Michoacan state two years ago, even the most hardened Mexicans were shocked. Now ritual mutilations are routine. In the border city of Tijuana, 37 people were slain over the weekend, including four children. Nine of the adults were decapitated, including three police officers whose badges were stuffed in their mouths....

Even I'm appalled with this and I can't help but wonder if it is an attempt by the Bush Administration to change the way things are done in Mexico.

Mordida no mas?

Yeah right. Another one of Stupie McFuckwits delusions that if you throw enough money at a country you can change the culture.

Remember that ObamaMessiah crap?

How about let's not expcet miracles, or to expect the man to walk on water, eh?

Tomgram: Robert Dreyfuss, Is Iran Policy Still Up for Grabs?

posted December 02, 2008 5:02 pm

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…

After all, that massive U.S. air attack on Iran that anti-imperial critics long expected to arrive, that Seymour Hersh wrote about, that so many feared, never happened and, with Barack Obama's election, should certainly have been put to rest in a deep grave for all eternity. But don't underestimate the neocons, or their ability to reconfigure themselves for a Democratic administration.

Michael Phelps vs Anderson Cooper

Hilarious, but bless Cooper's ability to look foolish good naturedly. Tomorrow on 60 minutes. Phelps is a marvel to watch in the water, and he works his ass off , the last frame is telling. It's why I wondered how many times they had to shoot this thing before they got one without Phelps cracking up.

Pakistani Militants At Center Of Probe

India, Its Archrival Vow to Cooperate Amid High Tension
By Craig Whitlock and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, November 29, 2008; A01
BERLIN, Nov. 28 -- Pakistani militant groups on Friday became the focus of the investigation into the attacks in Mumbai as India and its archrival Pakistan jousted over who was responsible. Both sides pledged to cooperate in the probe, but tensions remained high amid fears the conflict could escalate.

Surprising?

Not a fucking chance.



Here's yesterday's rodent pic.

Whoops, that was a squirrel pic I had already used in August. The critters don't come out much in "winter." Mmm hmm, I know those of you who deal with ice and snow are laughing at that, but they do hibernate. So here's a picture from my window. The trees on the grounds are one of the few things that don't suck about this complex. They attract all kinds of birds, migrating or not.

Rachel Maddow so rocks

Worried About Thanksgiving Fights with Right-Wing Family Members?

By Sara Robinson, Blog for Our Future
Posted on November 26, 2008, Printed on November 26, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/108638/

Oh, Lordy. It is that time again. Thursday is Thanksgiving -- the official kickoff event of the 2008 holiday season. For a lot of progressives, these festivities also mean that we're about to spend more quality time with our conservative relatives over the next six weeks than is strictly good for our blood pressure, stress levels, or continued sanity.

Hat tip to Shea

I love the article, but I gave up on holidays with my reich-wing Republican parents about the time I turned 18, many years ago. That doessn't mean that holidays are easy for me, they generally bring back horrible memories, and I'd rather crawl in a hole around October 25th and crawl back out on January 2. My sister finally let the cat out of the bag a couple weeks ago and said, "Oh, by the way ______, you were the scapegoat." A term anyone familiar with alchoholic family dynamics should understand. Believe me, these roles ain't set in stone, they move around in most families.

Happy Turkey Day.

May it be filled with gratitude and peace instead of painful drama.

Update 3 pm. Oh goody, my daughter is coming. She had to work, so she's tired, but she's coming. :) This is soooooo mellow.

As mortgages went bad, executives cashed out

By William Heisel
November 26, 2008
The subprime lending industry was starting to buckle under the weight of bad loans in November 2006...




Uh yuh, looks like we're gonna need another bailout.

"Sir, yes sir."



Whatever. I knew these assholes were assholes after 4 days at JP Morgan's hnnaaappy McMortgage factory in Rancho Bernardo in May of 06. Hamsters only need apply.

Ahhhhhhhh

Relaxing with new old music. The kid introduced me to Modest Mouse and some others for which I am grateful and the old man bores and irritates me with his high school soundtrack of Boston , REO , and worst of all Styx. I used to listen to country, but since I don't drink as much, I can't stand that caterwauly whining. I still love the blues, but I like my jazz predictable, and quiet. Not much on the horns dueling it out in improvisation. Don't demand my attention, I find that irritating and distracting and I have ADD. (Click on the pics to explore the sound)

This is my music. I've been hooked on it since I was 16.

5500 Squids are landing

After 6 months at sea in the Persian Gulf. The ones with fucked up families or drug and alcohol problems won't be flying home for Thanksgiving, they'll be wreaking havoc on the local girls. Some of which are greedy, skanky hos and deserve it, or professionals who will be compensated for their company. Either way, I warned my daughter.

Love BuckFush

it's pretty simple

The U.S. raids are deeply unpopular among many ordinary Pakistanis, many of whom are already angry with their leader's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

About 100 people in the eastern city of Multan demonstrated against the strike, chanting "Down with America" and burning an effigy of President George W. Bush.

Dial 1-800-Waaaaahhhh. You take aid money for the control of your whacked out Islamist militants and fund same, fuck you.

Frankly, until these numbers get closer to even, this planet will continue to have serious problems and the competition for resources will continue to be violent.

Clowns

Garanimals

Gotta love global warming, it's lowering my clothing bill. My entire summer clothing bill, which can be worn 9 months out of the year now, is less than $150 for this and next year.



I found out yesterday why I'm so impatient when I'm trying to read online. My eyes are fucked. So if I'm not visiting and commenting enough, that's why. I'll be more active when I can see.

This is surpirsing?