Finally found a place that will take my washing machine as a donation. You would not believe how many hours I spent trying to do this.
It should not be this hard to donate something.
It’s a religious org, but fuck it. My desire for donation outweighs my anti-religion bigotry. This time.
So, I have these old office cubicles I was using as my sound baffles in my studio but no longer have any use for. They were free. They are fugly, heavy, bulky, and were used before I got them. Thought I’d be stuck with them forever (or pay a hefty dump run fee).
Nope! Craigslist freestuff category… 10 responses in under 30 minutes. Woohoo!
Now, anybody need some furniture?
This time, they stood aside as two Americans of Pakistani ethnicity were tortured. This is the second report of such behavior, following a report of the same behavior in Saudi Arabia.
I guess the current guideline is that it’s OK if they’re brownish (or, better yet, swarthy) and not of European descent. Bad, sour times.
particularly when our government is running a gulag at Guantanamo.
Amnesty International branded the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay a human rights failure Wednesday, calling it “the gulag of our time” as it released a report that offers stinging criticism of the United States and its detention centers around the world.
The 308-page report accused the United States of shirking its responsibility to set the bar for human rights protections and said Washington has instead created a new lexicon for abuse and torture. Amnesty International called for the camp to be closed.
“Attempts to dilute the absolute ban on torture through new policies and quasi-management speak, such as ‘environmental manipulation, stress positions and sensory manipulation,’ was one of the most damaging assaults on global values,” the annual report said.
One of the things that I get upset about is the insistance by my GOP friends that that the Filibuster is anti-democracy. I get rather tired of expaining that our system of governement is NOT a democracy, it is a REPUBLIC.
A Democracy is rule by the MAJORITY. This is clearly not what the founding fathers had in mind when the constitutution was written. Somone who really understands the constitution of the United States will realize that the founding fathers had a real fear that the nation would become too democratic. In a true democracy there would be nothing to prevent the majority from infringing the rights of the minority, even to the point of executing them all if they were so inclined. A lot of thought went into structuring our government into a Republic to protect minorities from a tyranny by the majority.
The recent compromise in the Senate actually begins to destroy what the framers had in mind, even though it is Senate rules, and not the U.S. Consitution that is at issue. George Washington recognized the Senate as a more deliberative body, less affected by swings in public opinion. Washington described the Senate as “the saucer where passions cool”. What the GOP seeks to do is to make the Senate subject to public opinon, as is the House of Representatives. As such, we begin to unwind the fabric that has restrained our central government from a tyrannical reign over the minority.
I set up the server correctly on the first try. No glitches. No swearing. No muss, no fuss.
Damn, I’m good.
During the first couple of weeks of May, I did one of my twice annual disappearing acts from the Internet and plunged into the backcountry of the Smoky Mountains. While these communes with nature always get me thinking about the environment, my brother’s brand new Toyota Prius, which carried us to our destination, got me thinking about energy policy and the environment. This mid size hybrid gas/electric car got a rather outstanding 57 miles per gallon of gasoline on this trip. The most recent energy Bill to come out of Congress reduces the tax credit for buying one of these vehicles to $0.00 in the next couple of years.
It seems to me that our tax policy should be encouraging the purchase of this type of vehicle. Of course, the Japanese car makers are the only ones who have done serious research on hybrid technology. Ford, which is the only American company with a a hybrid car, is doing it by licensing the technology from the Japanese. The forward thinking TOYOTA corporation is on track to untrack the big three who can’t seem to plan beyond superficial changes on next year’s models.
The GOP energy solutions have not been environmentally friendly. Their legistlation allows drilling in wilderness areas and other public lands, it allows pumping chemicals into the ground that forces out more petroluem, but contaminates the water table, they encourage production of more electricity with polluting fossil fuels. Why is it that conservation is not a priority for Conservatives??
The political hypocrisy of the GOP is beginning to rub me the wrong way. One the one hand, the GOP wants the Preznit to be able to appoint whomever he wants to any federal bench, and ride rough shod over the minority by insisting on a simple majority vote. On the other, the Preznit wants to veto stem cell research legislation, which will then require a super majority to override the veto. Now, I’ve always felt that the stem cell research bill is a fraud meant to take the heat off of GOP congressment running for re-election in battleground states, and pass the heat on to a dumb lame duck Preznit but the George is missing the irony. Up or down, George? Why not give the House and Senate majorities what they vote for?
Well, that was remarkably easy. I rule! Bow before me and tremble, mortals, for I am root.
… now if I can only find the asshat that designed this place with 3 floors and only 3 phone jacks, none of which are in the basement…
you know, what with me fucking something up in the server move. Anyway, I’m OK with this possibly being the last post on here… it’s a good ‘un.
A high school yearbook has to be reprinted due to a caption…
A North Texas school district is having four pages of its high school yearbook reprinted to correct a photo caption that identified a student as “Black Girl.”
All white students are identified by name in the photograph of Waxahachie High School’s chapter of the National Honor Society. The teen identified as “Black Girl” is the only black student in the photo.
Texas, ladies and gentlemen! Texas!
DSL’s up at the new place, slower than expected, can’t get a phone jack to the “computer room,” and I don’t get good enough cell reception to go with my “no landline phone” policy.
Goddamnit.
Taking CMoore.com over tonight. Wish me luck. There will probably be a long outage for you guys, since the DNS servers around the world will have to be updated to reflect the new location.
at my age and in my health status, 2 days of moving is fine.
That third day, though? Killer. Kill-ler.
I can hardly move today, and now my right knee’s making this lovely click when I go upstairs. Stop that, beyotch!
So remember kids, move in two days if you can. Or get some help. That makes it a lot easier too.
Especially when they’re caught in their own fascist/paranoid police state trap.
This reporter was tagged as a terrorist suspect as he returned to the United States via Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia from three consecutive trips abroad. Taken aside and questioned as my luggage was carefully checked shirt by short by socks, then on to washbag to unscrew an electric toothbrush and squeeze a little toothpaste out of the tube. My questions were ignored by a grim-faced young woman wearing her most hostile expression.
An appeal to the powers that be at the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection elicited verbal apologies. But the Dulles brigade gave me the same treatment two more times before my name could be extracted from batteries of computer systems — and my reputation recovered.
Boo. hoo.
Oh, and your mama dresses you funny.
The latest news from our new Democracy in Afghanistan is that Mr. Bush’s “good friend” President Karzai would like to actually be in control of his own country. Specifically, Karzai would like to have access to detainees held at U.S. military bases within his country in order to address repeated allegations concerning the abuse of prisoners by U.S. military personnel. At this time, he is demanding that the U.S. relinquish control of all Afghans in their custody, and turn them over to the Afghan government.
Prediction: The Preznit will determine that this fledgling democracy isn’t ready for any real authority over matters in their own country and will allow the status quo with the occupation forces to remain. Democracy in action.