Priceless

In a little over a month the U. S. Government will send each of it's adult citizens $600. It was advertised by the President as a "Stimulus Package" for our floundering economy. The idea was to give back to the people so that they could have a little spending money to toss back into the economy.

Thank you Sir! I've never been given $600 that I couldn't use or didn't appreciate. I mean this seriously.

The head scratcher is that after announcing it in a press conference, and it being talked about on every radio and television station in the land, the IRS sent out a letter. To paraphrase the letter simply said, don't forget folks we're sending you $600 on May 1st.

I ask you dear reader. When was the last time you received a big unsolicited big check and didn't deposit it? Even if it was only to collect the interest until they came looking for it. Like we were going to get the money and say, "excuse me Sir, but I think you made a mistake". Or maybe you'd say to your spouse, "honey weren't we supposed to pay this year?" Instead these fuckers sent us a letter. Thanks assholes.

Now if you haven't heard about this next part already you're probably wondering why I'm bitching. Here's the scoop. What did the letter cost?

Cost of the Iraq War per U.S. Household as reported by the Congressional Budget Office --- $4,681

Cost per person ---$1,721

Cost per day---$341.4 Million

Cost in Tax Payer dollars to inform you of the $600 gift ---$42,000,000 (Forty Two Million Dollars)

Uhhmmmm....Seriously?!?!?!?!?

Wonder what that money could have gone towards?

The Pregnant Pause

Some folks prefer to get their news via the old fashioned article. Others are more enticed by the visual stimuli of video news. I love you all too dearly to deprive you of either.

Video


Print
BEND, Ore.
An Oregon man is five months pregnant, according to a national magazine.

Thomas Beatie, who used to be a woman, appeared in the most recent issue of The Advocate, a magazine for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender readers.

Beatie wrote the article and it included a picture of him while he was 22 weeks pregnant. According to the story, he went through a sex change, but decided only to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy.

Beatie was able to keep the reproductive organs he was born with. The article said he stopped getting the injections and was able to get pregnant.

Man In The Iron Mask

Gotta throw a little more love to the folks releasing the Iron Man movie.

Coming Soon!

The latest big thing in Hollywood is turning the popular comic books of the 1980's into blockbuster movies. You all know the list so I won't revisit it here. Needless to say, I'm a fan. Here are two more that will be in theaters this Summer. I can only hope they are as good as I'm anticipating.

Iron Man
This one has been in the works now for quite some time. Originally it was rumored that Tom Cruise was being courted to play Tony Stark. That would have been a dreadful mistake. Stark was known for being a cocky genius with a substance abuse problem. If you had to type cast someone in Hollywood with only knowing that one fact you'd almost have to consider Robert Downey Jr. I did. They did. Hooray for Hollywood, they got it right. Now let's hope they get the movie right too.



The Incredible Hulk
I know Ang Lee gave this one a shot a few years ago but something always seemed wrong with it. Was it that it was too "comic booky"? Possibly. It could have been that as much as I like Eric Bana, I have a really hard time placing him in the role of the physically awkward twerp known as Doctor Bruce Banner. So if you had it to do all over again wouldn't you make that your first change? Of course you would. So did they. This time around we can look forward to the part being played by Ed Norton. Remember the last time Norton sucked in a movie? I don't either.

Another Ho Hum News Day

So today turned out to be a fairly boring news day.

Arther C. Clarke, the well known writer of 2001: A Space Odyssey, passed away at the age of 90. This post was almost entitled "HAL Is Dead, Long Live HAL".

Anthony Minghella died at the age of 54 today. You may know him as the Director of the English Patient or Cold Mountain. We were this close to this post being called "In Death No One Can Hear You Scream" A not so clever word association between The Talented Mr. Ripley, also directed by Minghella, and Sigourney Weaver's Ripley character in Alien.

As I said another ho hum news day. Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

But wait! What's this? You're telling me that while I was at work Barack Hussein Obama spoke for 37 minutes on the subject of race in our country. He actually attempted to answer the mail for the controversial remarks made by his Pastor? Now this I've got to hear. Aren't you at least a little curious?

Well let's get to it then.



We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Stop Loss

His name was Nathan B. Brukenthal and he was the first Coast Guardsman killed in combat since the Vietnam war. He's been dead almost 4 years now but I bring it up not just as an 8 year veteran of the U. S. Coast Guard, but to remind you all that this Wednesday is the 5 year anniverary(?) of the opening of this debacle.

It began with Operation Iraqi Freedom and continues today with some other not so catchy slogan. Total U. S. Military body count is currently at 3,990.

3,851 have died since the "Mission Accomplished" visit. 3,259 since Saddam Hussein was captured. Last October a team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimated that 655,000 people had been killed since the invasion.



As the peace symbol turns 50 this year I'd like to remind everyone what JFK said, "Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind... War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today"



Are you still outraged? Or have you forgotten the fallen?

We The People

It has not typically been my pattern to place the video in front of my rant but this time is different. A very close friend of mine sent this to me a few weeks ago and he and I have been discussing it ever since. It was sent to him by the folks at http://www.theladders.com/. They are a bit of a Monster Dot Com on Roids for lack of a better way to put it as they tend to cater to some of the more higher paying jobs.

Throughout our discussions the main theme from my friend had been that I have missed the point of the video. This criticism comes from my overly sarcastic and cynical response that "yeah yeah this guy was on ESPN last year and what they are neglecting to say in this story is that the team was up by 30 points with 4 minutes left." Hence the 'Chad you're missing the point comment'.

In a way he's correct. While I'm not sure that this vid was the best way to convey the message - it is a bit misleading - the verbiage that theladders folks sent with it was worth revisiting. It's the idea that we tend to attach labels to things unfairly. Worse is that we accept the labels that are assigned to us without question.

By WE whom am I referring to? Who exactly is WE?

WE are white, black, asian, hispanic, indian (both dot and feather), gay, straight, bisexual, male, female, tall, short, skinny, fat, BBW, SWM, SBM, SWF, SBF, or any other acronym that may come to mind.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world these labels are not our defining characteristics. While it may serve as a way for you to help identify with us we are more than this. WE are your lawyers, your accountants, your mail carriers, your waiters and waitresses, your teachers, politicians, and your gas station attendants. WE are the everyday people that make up this planet and so are YOU.

It is quite possible that this was the point that my friend wanted me to grasp. If so I hope he realizes that it wasn't totally lost upon me. More importantly I hope it isn't lost upon you. It is really easy to define someone and pigeon hole them into a safe comfortable category. But by doing so you run the risk of missing out on what makes them special as an individual.

I think that was the point my buddy wanted to convey.

Either that or he wanted to re-emphasize that CBS does a really crappy job of telling a news story. YOU decide.

Oh yeah...and before I forget please sing along with me "In 1787 I'm told our founding fathers all sat down and wrote a list of principles that's known the world around"

An Interview With Captain Obvious

Each week a buddy of mine sends out a mass email that he entitles the "Clip of the week" He his a lot more diligent about it than I am by far. Sometimes there are some misses and sometimes there are some serious "you've sunk my battleships". This clip is definitely the latter. The Aussies have this interview thing down cold.

Ah Amore

The Admiral get's credit for finding this one.

The story is too incredulous for me to add anything to it, funny or otherwise. So here's the opening of the story and if you want more you can click the link that follows. Sigh...


Woman had phobia of leaving bathroom
She sat on toilet so long her body became stuck to the seat
The Associated Press
updated 3:26 p.m. PT, Thurs., March. 13, 2008
WICHITA, Kan. - A man should be charged for allowing his girlfriend to sit on their toilet so long that her body became stuck to the seat, the sheriff said Thursday.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple was among authorities who discovered the woman last month living in the bathroom of a mobile home she shared with her boyfriend, Kory McFarren.

“The house was cluttered but not in shambles,” he said. “The smell was overpowering — a terrible smell about the house, obviously coming from where she was at.”

McFarren, 36, told police his girlfriend, Pam Babcock, 35, had a phobia about leaving the bathroom and may not have left the bathroom in two years, although he’s unsure how long she was in there because “time just went by so quick I can’t pinpoint how long.” He said beatings she received in her childhood caused her phobia.

Read more about the smell of true love here

Oh Kelly Clarkson!!

So now that I'm old (and in my mind going to bed by 9 o'clock 6 nights out of 7 qualifies) I don't get to see a lot of late night TV. Unless of course I use the miracle that is DVR. But let's face it folks...if you start recording the late night TV shows shouldn't you just do us all a favor and give up right now?

I digress.

I wanted to talk about how absolutely hill-effing-larious Stephen Colbert is. You know him. He's the guy not named Steve Carell that left The Daily Show. You know. The guy that ran for President that one time. Oh well, the best way to appreciate Colbert's humor is to show you The Word.

Enjoy!

Truthiness
<>

Victory!

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Over the last two weeks a lot has been said about whether or not Senator Obama is plagiarizing bits of his very popular speeches. His answer has been that he has indeed borrowed (with permission) certain passages from a friend of his. Now while I don't see much wrong with this it made the news enough to be of some import to someone. But if you don't believe that plagiarism is something that occurs all throughout a political campaign you are horribly wrong.

Last week Hillary released what has to be her most successful campaign ad yet. I say this because it seems to have swayed a lot of voters both in Ohio and Texas. At least enough for her to continue her battle for the White House. I know that a lot of you have seen it already but it's short so I give it to you again.



It's a good ad. It doesn't come right out and say it but the inference is obvious. It clearly says that you want me (Hillary) picking up the phone at 3 am and not my opponent. But here's the problem. The ad looked a little too familiar to me. Now there is absolutely no sane reason for me to remember this but I've been interested in politics for so long that I can't help it. Back in March of 1984 Walter Mondale was running in the Democratic Primary against Gary Hart (who by the way, later lost to Bill Clinton in 1991). Mondale went on to win the Democratic Nomination but lose to the incumbent president at the time Ronald Reagan.

So just to be clear with the facts here I'll restate them again. The month was March. The contest was once again the Democratic Party Primary. And oh by the way the man currently supervising Hillary's ad strategy is a guy by the name of Roy Spence. Roy Spence was also the brain child for a similar ad in 1984 when he worked for...drum roll please...Walter Mondale. Here's Mondale's ad.



I'll let you be the judge but it seems to me that you really shouldn't accuse someone of plagiary when you're doing it yourself.

Your Moment of Zen

I have survived 3 days of being overly nice for the sheer purpose of being overly nice. Only 4 days left to go. This shit ain't easy people. Do you realize how hard it is to find something to blog about without berating someone for their stupidity?

Alas, the struggle continues.

For you Daily Show fans here's another chance to catch one of the funniest non-interviews ever. For those of you that don't watch The Daily Show I'll wait until day eight before I tell you what a loser you are.

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Brian Williams and Jon Stewart - and laughter ensues...