I hereby give up PORK for Lent.

I don't agree with the bill or big government. As for CNN, I've lost a ton of respect for this article alone: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/02/gop.stimulus.worries/index.html

What a gross overstatement generalizing what the GOP leaders were arguing as wasteful spending. CNN decided to be liberal (yeah, pun intended) with it's editing and only included the things that look great on paper. In reality, check out the pork in this piece of SPAM:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2009/02/19/finding-the-pork-in-the-obama-stimulus-bill.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/13/politics/washingtonpost/main4801242.shtml

http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2009/02/where-stimulus-money-is-going.html

On top of all that, The House and The Senate respectively were only given 5 copies each of the 1071-page bill and less than 24 hours to read it. Now, I am not a speed reader, but even if you were, I doubt each and every Senator and Congressperson could share those paper copies or scrutinize the bill as it should be.

*** Anyone else getting strange feelings of fear-based posturing? Anyone remember The (in)famous Patriot Act and how the powers that were, used that act to creep into our private lives using unparalleled authority. Remember how the act was hastily passed in a time of fear? Shivers, kids...shivers. ***

If you think that electing Obama was a monument in honest politics, I once again implore you to seek honesty not only from the President, but from all of those who work for US!

The 'Penis' Mightier?

So...what's with all the penis in movies these days? Of late, I saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Harold and Kumar 2.

So, I know that women have been fighting for equality for a long time and all, but do any of those women really think equality = more penis? I love women, and their naked bodies as much as the next (straight)man, but quite frankly, if I had to give up boobs and female nudity in films, I would gladly do it if I didn't have to see any more man parts on film. I'd just go buy a playboy or look on the pornonet...ahem, I mean internet to get my fill. Who really is writing this in the scripts anyway? Is it really that funny? Not to me! I am tired of seeing a penis just leap out at me when I least expect it!

I know some people will say that its no big deal and we should be like the Europeans and just accept it, but NO! I don't want to be like Europeans! That's why we broke free in the first place! The settlers were trying to GET AWAY from that type of thing. Granted, they were Puritans, but so what, why the penis? Anyone have a good reason?

Really, Arlen Specter?

What the hell is this guy thinking. The economy is puking on itself and he thinks we should use Congressional time/money/resources to investigate 'Spygate'? What is this guy thinking? Even if the economy were booming and this country was at its most prosperous with no deficit, there is no reason that this should ever happen...ever. Who elected this guy? Pennsylvania, what? Can I get some help here?

Senator Arlen Specter (R- PA)
Phone: 202-224-4254
Fax: 202-228-1229
or online here

I'm counting on your support!

Can of worms...open thyself.

Disclaimer: Here goes another foray into the annals of web history. This has been blogged over and over I'm sure, but the more I read, the more I am outraged and undignified.

I originally supported the war effort, I still am on the fence as to whether it's right or not. So I try to refrain from saying we should just pull out, or do anything sensational like that. However...

This Gitmo think has got me red-hot. Not just the fact that the prison exists, but the ideal that we created the commissions and set up this strange framework of courts to detain folks.

There is so much to say on the matter, I would like the fellow 'Pen' bloggers to weigh in on how they feel about it. I am in a rush, but decided to post anyhow, since I want to make sure I am not just a silent objector... anymore. Something needs to be done, for sure.

One point I'll conclude with: How can we maintain the stance that we are offering Iraqis the chance at a wonderful set of ideals to live by, when we violate those very ideals with the operation and support of such a facility?

I yeild the floor to you guys and gals...I know you have an opinion on this one Ems.

Russians are confused, stupid

You know that guy that is the largest mass-murderer in the history of the planet (yes, even more than Hitler)? Russian youth think Good Ole Josef Stalin wasn't such a bad guy after all.

Also of interest is the fact that two thirds of them think that America is an enemy of Russia, compared to twenty percent thinking that Iran is an enemy. This is despite Bush and Putin repeatedly going to the ranch to play grab-ass.

TP

BARBARIC!

TP

Random Thought

I am sitting in England, and I just had to wash clothes for the second time. I was whining like a baby and thinking how everyone says how much they hate doing laundry. Then, I had a thought: my great grandmother would probably kick my ass if she heard this. I have a machine, nice detergent, and a folding table. My clothes get thoroughly clean and thoroughly dried without a clothes line. Pretty much, all I have to do is fold them when they are done and put them up. She was probably slaving away for hours scrubbing on the washboard and squeezing them out with one of those roller things before hanging them on the line to dry. I don't have to do anything except dump them in a machine and come back an hour later. Needless to say, I quit whining.

TP

Guess who is still alive?

ME! I saw this quote (HT: JC) and was inspired:

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

Sorry the posting has been non-existent. I am in England for the summer, and with classes, travel, etc. I haven't paid much attention to this place. Evidently, my "team" of bloggers really hasn't either. I am sure posting will pick up again in the fall, and in the meantime, I hope you are all well.

TP

Speaking of musicians...

If you don't check out 'Flight of the Conchords' you are missing this...

I can't take the Paris Hilton post anymore....

Sorry...I had to post SOMETHING so that I wouldn't have to see anything about Paris Hilton first thing.


So.....here is a video of Sam Pacetti.....a GREAT finger picking guitarist from St. Augustine....although the video doesn't show just how kick ass he really is.

Enjoy!

Freakin A, man.

I am so glad they are throwing that bitch Hilton back in jail. Thank God there is a judge who is man enough to send her back to jail and not cave to her 'devastated' fans -- who are these people?

If you do something wrong, you should be punished. I am so surprised that Noxema girl is still out free since committing vehicular manslaughter a while back (I may be wrong here, but I think I remember that right).

My God, I never thought we would pull out of the spiral of shame that is so evident in today's society. Please join me in prayer to whatever deity (if any) you subscribe to, and hope that they make her serve out her sentence in jail and that she lives to regret ever even thinking of breaking the law... That is, after all, what you are supposed to come away from jail thinking.

Then again, maybe she'll be like most of the others and just come out a worse, more educated criminal.

D-Day

(Pictured: Eisenhower speaks to the para- troopers)

"There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again.

You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you WON'T have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, "Well, your Granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana."

No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, "Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named Georgie Patton!""
- General George S. Patton, June 5, 1944 (from his famous D-Day Speech)

TP