Limits 
Monday, February 11, 2008, 08:44 AM - Random Thoughts
Thistle can travel outside my body, but he cannot fly as far as the Summerland. I was hoping that he could, but he cannot. In the spirit world, he is tethered to me by a shining filament of some sort. He flew as far as he could, but he could not reach my friend who died.

Still, I wish her well. I pray that she at least knows that I tried. Perhaps, in the life-to-come, I will see her again.

It is sunny today and when Thistle flew, he shone bright silver. I have energy. I am glad that he is my allied spirit even though his powers are limited.

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Another Bush Year 
Sunday, December 30, 2007, 03:48 PM - Random Thoughts
Well, 2007 continued G. W. Bush's proud tradition of deficit spending and robbing the Middle Class. We're still at "war" in Iraq, although it seems that there aren't really any easily defined "good guys" and "bad guys" in this endless conflict. But it sure does waste money, cost lives, and line Halliburton's pockets!

2007 also saw the first year in which the Canadian dollar and the Euro were worth more than the U.S. Dollar. Why, you might ask? Because our currency is on the verge of uncontrolled hyperinflation thanks to Bush's 7-year-long unchecked spending spree. We had a balanced budget under Clinton. But Bush gave the surplus directly to the billionaires and kept on spending from there! Our currency is also in trouble because Bush let the mnegacorporations get away with outsourcing hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs to Third World hellholes. So, as a result, hardly anything is manufactured in the United States anymore, which makes for an ever-increasing trade deficit, which in turn devalues the U.S. Dollar.

So, if you're wondering by it costs $250 to go grocery shopping in 2007 when it cost $125 in 2000, that's the reason.

Bush did, however, veto every attempt by the House and Senate to curb spending.God forbid his Haliburton-enriching projects get trimmed.

Of course, he did grudgingly sign the 2007 CAFE reform bill. this requires that car makers have an average fleet fuel economy of 35 MPG. But there are enough loopholes in the bill to drive a Hummer through. He made sure that the oil companies kept getting billions of dollars in Federal subsidies (as if they need it!) He phased out the hybrid tax credit while at the same time renewing the Hummer/Escalade super-guzzler tax credit (worth $25,000 for those millionaires who buy them!) He also made sure that the price of food will continue to rise by requiring that corn-based ethanol by tripled in use. that's smart: turning FOOD into FUEL. Oh, and that's also one of the guzzler loopholes Bush demanded: the Cadalac Escalade is granted an artificial fuel economy of 57 MPG because it's capable of running on ethanol. YEah, some bonus. As if they will ever run on renewable fuels. There are exactly FOUR ethanol-dispensing gas stations in Maryland!

My favorite bill this year was when he bailed out all the rich aging Yuppies who bough more house than they can afford. That's great: my taxes now helop pay for some millionaire's McMansion. Fantastic. Thanks, Bush!!!

So, just to recap: food, fuel, health insurance, education, and energy have all increased by over 100% under Bush's term, while real income for the Middle Class has increased by less than 1% over that same period of time.

And you wonder why I changed party affiliations in 2002?

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Top 10 from Hanuman 
Tuesday, December 18, 2007, 05:33 PM - Random Thoughts
1. When you were born, how much did you weigh? 9 pounds.

2. What’s your sugar poison? Jebby Bellies, Sweedish Fish, Lemonheads, and Dots.


3. If you had to choose between meat and cheese for the rest of your life, which would you choose? Then be specific. I'd pick cheese. There are so many dishes that require cheese, but almost every meat dish can implement a soy-based subsitute.


4. What, in your opinion, is the worst song ever? One of the songs in the hymnal (I forget which number it is), but I always recognize it in the first few notes. It's boring, uninspired, lousy, and long.


5. Who was your favorite teacher growing up and why? Dr. Cathcart (at Salisbury State). He could ctually understand the spatial relationships between four-dimensional objects. Yeah, his was a rare mind. He was also philosophical and funny.


6. What personal activity, when performed in public, bothers you the most?
While the cell phone thing doesn't bother me, per se, there is a specific kind of cell phone that aggrivates me a great deal. These cutting-edge "two-way" phones from Boost and Nextel are a bane because rude people turn the chirp sound up to full volume and then scream into the speakerphone. It's just so rude!


7. Ok, there’s a $50 bill lying on the ground. You pick it up. Dumbfounded by your incredible luck, what do you selfishly purchase? A british mystery (like Morse, Frost, Wire in the Blood, etc.)

8. Do you have a recurring nightmare? My father (an abusive monster) often plays a pivitol role in my nightmares. He usually appears in my dreams to scream at me, or to tell me how I have disappointed him or or how I am utterly worthless.


9. Name one place on Earth you’ve never been, but vow to visit at least once. I'd love to see Ireland. It is there that I would hope to somehow find one of the Thin Places where the boundary between worlds is stretched thin and one might be able to cross over into some other realm.

10. You notice that question #9 wasn’t really a question. You feel smart for catching such a small detail. What else can you do really well that reminds you how smart you are? I can figure out how to use almost any electronic gadget without ever having seen an instruction manual.


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A really odd play 
Tuesday, December 18, 2007, 04:46 PM - Random Thoughts
So... Doug managed to get some really cheap tickets to a play called "The Homecoming". The play was just plain bizarre. It takes place in some run-down townhouse in London in which a father, two sons, and an uncle occupy the house.

Well, the father is a violent, foul-mouthed braggart on pension. Son #1 is a pimp and Son #2 is a boxer / factory worker. The uncle is a chauffer who I suspect might have been gay.

The "homecoming" part comes into play when the eldest son (a philosophy professor) shows up at midnight with his odd, distant wife.

The long and short of it is this: the wife meets the family and decides to move in and become a prostitute. The husband is, strangely, okay with this plan since he was going to get a 10% share of her illicit earnings. The pimp-son offered to get her set up in business since he said he only dealth with high-price call girls and not "aged trotters".

Yeah.

The pimp-son is also sort of a sociopath, since be bragged about how he thought about murdering his last girlfriend but was too lazy to finish the job (ie. "But then I thought about how I'd have to bury the body and all that rubbish. Too much damned work, so I just kicked her a bit with my boot"). Yeah.

It was a darkly humorous play that was, against all odds, fun to watch. The acting was really good. I just have no idea what the hell the play was trying to accomplish. It inspired lots of questions but darned few answers.

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Why are we still in Iraq?! 
Sunday, July 15, 2007, 09:28 AM - Random Thoughts
When I think of the useless was in Iraq -- the one that Bush started via lies and fake evidence -- I keep coming back to the question: Why are we still there? Bush is the only one who thinks we're making "progress", but the rest of the world thinks otherwise.

-- The overwhelming majority of Americans (something like 7 in 10) think we should have an orderly, phased withdrawel over a 6-12 month period.
-- A majority of House and Senate members think we need an orderly, phased withdrawel from Iraq.
-- Most soldiers who were polled reported a strong desire to come home.
-- Most Iraqi citizens want us to leave Iraq.
-- The Iraqi president wants us to leave Iraq.

The trouble is that Bush started this war because he really believes that God told him to start this war. Yeah. I remember seeing the press conference in which Bush said that he had been prayung and that God told him to invade Iraq.

Now, if the average citizen were to go around saying that God spoke to him and commanded him to try to take over the world, that person would probably be put on anti-psychotic medication. Unfortunately, since Bush is President, he actually gets to try to take over the world (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, who knows what's next?!)

January 20, 2009 -- Bush's last day -- can't come too soon!

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iPhone or iHype? You decide! 
Sunday, July 8, 2007, 10:15 AM - Random Thoughts
Why don't want an iPhone?

-- $600 price tag when most other PDA/Phone hybrids cost $300-$350.

-- Proprietary SIM card means you're stuck with ATT forever.

-- Slow Class-6 EDGE means your connection speed will be more like dial-up and less like ISDN.

-- No IM, MMS means you won't be chatting with your friends.

-- No handwriting recognizer means that composing email will be a real chore.

-- No expansion slot for SD or Memory Stick. This means you have to choose between Storing music or installing 3rd Party applications.

-- It only works with iTunes. They charge a dollar a track and they encode at 128K for that high-price, mediocre music listening experience. Rhapsody is a dime cheaper and they encode at 192K. The) also let you redownload your paid-for music if your computer dies.
The funky headset port really limits your listening options.

-- ATT won't fix this phone if there are warranty problems, and Apple charges to do so.

-- The iPhone calling plans are all $20 more expensive than a non-iPhone plan with the same number of minutes. You have to pay more for the priviledge of owing a status symbol!



I think I'll stick with my Nokia E62.



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Bush's "Credibility Gap" 
Saturday, February 17, 2007, 05:12 PM - Random Thoughts
My opinion on the Bush presidency is this: he lied every time he opened his mouth. I read in MSNBC this week that the Bush advisors were bemoaning the president?s apparent ?credibility gap? -- a newfangled euphemism that means ?nobody believes anything he says?. And then I thought to myself, ?why SHOULD anybody believe anything he says??

We?re in our 4th year in Iraq. It?s a war he lied to Congress about in order to get authorisation for the war. Bush said Saddham had nuclear (?nuk?u?larr?) technology -- Saddham didn?t. Bush said that Saddham had weapons of mass destruction -- he didn?t. He said that Iraq had fully re-armed -- it hadn?t. Bush said that the global community was behind us in this endeavour -- it wasn?t. Bush declared ?Mission Accomplished? six months into the war -- nothing was accomplished. Bush said that the Iraqi people would welcome us as liberators -- they greeted us as an Infidel occupation army. Bush said that the war would ?pay for itself? due to increased Iraqi oil exports -- energy prices doubled because of this war.

Bush lied about the extent to which favoured contractors like Halliburton would defraud the taxpayers (for projects in Iraq and New Orleans).

Bush lied to the American people when he said that gay couples wanted to ?destroy the traditional American Family?. Gay couples just want equal protection under the law and equal access to the services their taxes pay for.

Bush lied when he said that Homeland Security would make America safer. All it did was create a branch of Secret Police that operate outside the bounds of the Constitution.

Bush lied when he said that the huge tax cuts for the nation?s millionaires would somehow benefit the middle class. In reality, the gap between rich and poor grew wider under Bush?s watch than under any other president.

But if I took the time to list all of Bush?s lies, it would fill an entire book. The legacy of George W. Bush is this: Because he lied, thousands died.


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Bachelor for a week 
Wednesday, January 3, 2007, 08:36 PM - Random Thoughts
It’s been a drag this week. Doug is visiting his family this week, as he usually does after Christmas, so it’s just me and the two cats this week. Gigi is lounging on a cushion to my left while Scrunchie is perched on the arm of the couch. The cats are just too cute.

At least I’m not too depressed this year. Still, it will be nice to have Doug back next week.


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The latest list! 
Monday, January 1, 2007, 10:17 PM - Random Thoughts
Stolen from Larrytronic's Blog!
=================================

1. The phone rings. Who are you hoping it is? Doug (my Partner), Ed (a close friend), or mom.
2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart? Always. Lazy people REALLY bug me.
3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener? A little of both. It depends on how much the other person talks.
4. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive? No. I’d get lost and then freeze to death while walking around in big circles.
5. Do you like to ride horses? I haven’t had much experience. They seem like nice animals.
6. Did you ever go to camp as a kid? A Christian summer camp in PA. I only went one summer, when I was 8. Just ghastly.
7. What was your favorite board game as a kid? Monopoly.
8. If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew he/she was taken what would you do? I don’t purposefully hurt people, so I would not pursue.
9. Are you judgmental? Yes. I loathe cheaters and deceivers. I hate laziness.
10. Would you date someone with different religious beliefs? It depends on the other religion.
11. Are you continuing your education? I’d like to, but I don’t have the $$.
12. Do you know how to shoot a gun? Yes. I own a Browning Buckmark .22 pistol.
13. If your house was on fire, what’s the first thing you’d grab? My USB hard drive.
14. How often do you read books? Probably 20-30 books/year. I also have one novel in print and am 155,000 words into writing a second book.
15. Do you think more about the past, present or future? Some of my past is sealed off to me. Most of what I do remember is unpleasant. So I think about having a good present and a better future.
16. What is your favorite children’s book? I enjoyed many of the Redwall books. Mice as heroic figures… too cool.
18. How tall are you? Five foot ten inches.
19. Where is your ideal house located? I don’t know.
20. Last person you talked to? My partner.
22. When was the last time you were at Olive Garden? Probably in November. It’s always SO CROWDED!
23. What are your keys on your key chains for? My car, partner’s car, our house, back door, desk drawer, locks to my old company that went out of business, five or so keys that I have no idea what they go to.
24. What did you do last night? Watched the Clint Eastwood marathon with mom.
25. Where is your current pain at? Got a bit of a headache thanks to an allergy.
26. Do you like mustard? All Kinds! I love mustard, tolerate ketchup, and loathe mayo.
27. Do you like your mom or dad? I like mom. My dad was an abuser who enjoyed hurting me. We don’t talk.
28. How long does it take you in the shower? Monday-Friday: 10 minutes. Saturday-Sunday: Until the hot water runs out.
29. What movie do you want to see right now? I’m reading a Star Trek novel while watching Miss Marple.
30. Do you put lotion on your dog or cats? Where? They are all so furry!
31. What did you do for New Year’s? I watched the Clint Eastwood marathon with mom/
32. Do you think The Grudge was scary? I never saw it.
33. Do you own a camera phone? Yup! A SonyEricsson W810i.
34. What’s the last letter of your middle name? None of my Alters have middle names. The body’s legal middle name ends in “R”.
35. Who did you vote for on American Idol? I've never watched an episode!



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Too nice to be Conservative 
Saturday, December 23, 2006, 05:35 PM - Random Thoughts
Too nice to be a Bush Conservative
I actually have a friend who is a complete and utter “true believer” when it comes to George W. Bush. He really doesn’t think Bush has done one single thing wrong throughout his “presidency”. It’s a shame, too, since my friend is a really nice guy who otherwise seems educated and reasonable.
I do try to get him to understand that our president is a stupid, lazy, arrogant ass. But he has somehow been programmed by the Far Right.
Here’s a sample of what it’s like:
(me): “You know, the Republican party lost because of how badly the Iraq war is going.”
(him): “But we’re WINNING in Iraq. And the Iraqi people are GLAD we are there.”

(me): “But what about how Bush lied in order to get us into war?”
(him): “Just because they never found WMD’s doesn’t mean they were never there.”

(me): “What about how only 17% of the Iraqis want us there, and how this war has cost the lives of over 600,000 civilians in Iraq?”
(him): “Those are just media lies from folks who hate America.”

(me): “What about how Bush has been illegally tapping into phone conversations and email? And what about how Homeland security illegally tracks all citizens’ credit card purchases?”
(him): “Bush has executive privilege, so that’s okay.”

(me): “So, what do you think about global warning?”
(him): “It’s a media hoax by people who hate America.”

(me): “What about hybrid technology”
(him): “It’s just a fad.”

(me): “What about conservation?”
(him): “The world will never run out of oil.”

(me): “What about overpopulation?”
(him): “The world can easily handle 100 Billion.”

Yeah, it gets pretty frustrating. He pretty much sees it in the same way except he can’t turn me into a Right Wing believer. Oh well, what can you do?


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