Throwing shoes

Iraqi shoe-throwing reporter becomes the talk of Iraq | U.S. | Reuters: "Throwing shoes at someone is the worst possible insult in the Arab world."
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Makes me wonder how they can say that. What if he had thrown... feces? Wouldn't that be more insulting? Is throwing shoes really more insulting than spitting on someone? How about throwing some old, nasty, freshly farted-in underwear? Even in the "Arab world" there has to be things they consider more insulting than throwing your shoes at someone. And what if that person takes the shoe... then you have to buy another pair. Maybe the real insult is on the person throwing the shoe?

That said, he did ok in the throwing part. He didn't throw all goofy, neither of the shoes went wildly off course. And Bush, was even better in that he easily dodged the shoes that were coming at him at a high clip. That guy was putting the heat on those shoes and Bush not only ducked the first one, but he didn't let it keep him down. He stood right back up and dodged the 2nd.

And what is up with the security, that guy should have been tackled and with a bloody nose before the second shoe took flight. Taser anyone? Something... they just looked really slow to get the guy. "Oh, it's just the President of the USA, let's take our time and handle the attacker with care."

Come on, you're in Iraq, you're securing the President, it's a prime opportunity that for once in your security career, you may get to put the hurt on someone for attacking the president.

There should have been a secret service guy "taking the shoe" for the President, flying out from seemingly nowhere as the shoe was thrown.

But no, there was none of that. WHY NOT?! I don't care if he's the most unpopular President, he's still the PRESIDENT! Protect our F-ing President no matter how "popular" he is. Put the hurt on those who try to attack him... what the hell are they teaching the secret service these days? They looked like they were more concerned about the lighting for photos that protecting the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Get your priorities straight. Here's the top 2:
1. Protect the President
2. Kick the ass(es) while incapacitating those that attack the president with a shoe or any other object no matter harmless it may seem at the time.

If you have to dive through people, knock some other people on their asses to get to the attacker, so be it. Don't be all, "Pardon me, can I get by" to people in the way, run over their asses!

Anyway, there was a serious lack of intensity by the security. That doesn't bode well for our image. The intensity and effectiveness of how we secure our President is a reflection of how well we secure our country. To the rest of the world, I bet we look pretty vulnerable.

Ass Backwards American Auto Industry

Bailout dead, automakers in search of a lifeline: "'Due to this colossal failure by the U.S. Senate, now it's up to the president and the Treasury secretary,' Bernero said Friday on CBS''Early Show.''Working Americans will appreciate the president stepping in - and pull us back from the precipice, pull us back from the economic cliff.'"
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What? The Senate's failure? WRONG! It's the F-ing auto industry's own fault. The signs were on the horizon when even the best German auto maker, Daimler (Mercedes), couldn't revamp Chrystler enough to want to stay here.

An even bigger sign of how out of their F-ing minds they are, they ride up to congress in private jets to "beg" for money. They're not hungry. They're either unwilling or unable to change enough to become successful in America.

The dinosaurs need to die if that's what it takes to bring in a new species that's hungry enough to want to attract the American consumer, and be able to adapt to meet shifts in the market. Ford, GM and Chrystler have all proven they can't, and as much as it may hurt people when they die, it's not the Senate's fault, nor the President's, it's simply the fault of bad, ineffective, outdated management who are already wealthy and will remain that way even if their company fails.

And that's why it's such a farce that they drove up in hybrids the second time they begged for money. They could afford their jets without using company money, so it was all just for appearances. To be really begging for money, they should have showed up nearing their last dime of even personal wealth... like Amazon. That guy put his heart and soul into that company, plenty of times I'm sure when it was on the brink of collapse. Let the dinosaurs die so that maybe the Amazon.com of the auto industry will be able to compete for our business.

Obama announces Clinton, Gates for Cabinet - Yahoo! News

Obama announces Clinton, Gates for Cabinet - Yahoo! News:

"By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama named former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of statae on Monday" ...
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Wow, this was the lead article I just looked at on Yahoo news, as is (except for bolding that one word), displaying AP's typical butchery of the english language, grammar, spelling, etc. In this case, it's just the spelling, but OMG, WhereTF did these people graduate? Did they graduate from an accredited college? I haven't really ranted about AP lately because it happens every F'n day on, sadly, MOST of their articles.

Anyway, congrats to HC for being nomintated as Secretary of State. With all that travelling around she'll have to do, maybe BC will want to hire former intern ML to fill in all that free time. Either that or HC will need to take BC with her wherever she goes.

Obama Saturation

Obama takes his case to country with infomercial - Yahoo! News:

That's it. I'm officially sick of Obama. And McCain't win. But more so Obama. All this hype. I hate unsubstantiated fervor over someone, and it makes me mad that so many people are being duped by someone who's just pointing out past mistakes and saying "we can do better than that" and not saying how he plans to do so. I don't like anyone (McCain't included) who acts like any plan of theirs is going to happen if they're elected as if Congress has nothing to say about it. And I can't stand that people always seem to forget that.

And to top it all off, Obama wants to package all that crap he keeps repeating into an infomercial... OMFG, shoot me now plzkthx. I'd much rather watch a repeat of... some stupid show than ANY infomercial. Come on, everyone has heard the same lines Obama says over and over. I hope another candidate never gets as much money as Obama has if it means they'll do infomercials. Ugh. The only thing worse would be if McCain't made an informercial because it would truly drive me nuts to hear about how he and Palin and such mavericks over and over again, and his lone example of how he stopped a bad airline contract. Not to take away from its goodness, but I don't want to hear about it over and over again.

But maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just pissed off because I think both candidates suck... I need to vote soon and it's hard picking out the lesser evil of the two. Though, I live in Texas so McCain't will win here, but still. Plus, more importantly, there's the local races.

Oh yeah, McCain't should hire the guy who did Cornyn's commercials, he'd look a lot more presidential and confident if he did. Cornyn 2012!

Romo v. Aikman

"Against Arizona this season, Romo broke Troy Aikman's team record with his 14th career 300-yard passing game in his 32nd start. Aikman's 13 came in 165 starts."
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Oh please, that's less of an indicator of whose better and more of an indicator of the teams. Aikman's Cowboys started off with an organization that was reinventing itself. Jimmy Johnson (and Jerry) was putting together "his" team. There were some tough seasons to watch, but I'll never forget that even when they sucked royally, they put enough gritty determination together to beat the Redskins... that was really sweet. And even when they got good, they had a ball carrier from Pensacola that had to get his due... you may remember him as one of the all time, if not THE, greatest running back to play the game, Emmitt Smith. When I think of Emmitt, I think of that Giants game when, even with a hurt shoulder, he pounded the crap out them. Heart, determination, a huge will to win, great athletic ability... Emmitt is part of why Troy was able to be great himself. Don't forget that offensive line and some people who knew how to catch a football.

Romo's Cowboys, well, he inherited a team that's already set up to win. They would have done really well in last year's playoffs, if not for the Giants. Parcells pretty much left his successor an overally good group of guys. So, Romo doesn't have to go through some terrible seasons while tooling the machine. He inherited a gift. And since this team isn't really very inspiring in the running back department, they kinda need to be passing for a lot of yards. Why do you think 3 interceptions were made when they played St. Louis? They have to pass. They're too dependent on it if you ask me. And I guarantee you, if it was Aikman during Romo's stint as quarterback, he would have had his 14th 300 yard passing game in probably probably 25 starts.

So, so what if Romo has more 300 yard passing games... it just shows how dependent the current team is on being able to pass. Now that Romo is out with a hurt finger, that dependency is exposed. Romo is good though, it'll be interesting to see how he progresses once he starts playing again.

Creating News

Paparazzi called in tip on Locklear

Short version of article, papper with a shady history calls police in on Heather Locklear and then photographs the arrest, then sells the photos using a 3rd party because she has a hard time selling her photos due to her checkered past. Pond scum comes to mind.

Not Me

Commentary: Time for Palin to put up or shut up - CNN.com: "Countless folks have said that we all know McCain, and it s necessary to scrutinize every aspect of Obama. Really? I think if you ask the average person, they ll know a lot more about Obama's childhood than McCain, solely by the level of scrutiny."

Yeah, I know all about Obama's childhood. I know he's partly white and partly black, was raised muslim in Indonesia, attended terrorist training camps, piloted both of the 9/11 planes into the twin towers, once shot a man just for snoring, and then went to Hawvawd law school. Yeah, everbody knows about Hussein's childhood.

McCcCcain's childhood... well, I think most of his childhood was learning how to make fire and at night he was draw pictures on the cave's walls. Then he went to military schools in the USA and ended up at the Naval Academy.

As for Palin, no idea where this idea of her just needing to show up came from, but seems odd after hearing how badly she did in an interview with Katy Curic. I didn't see the interview, but my very biased Obama-loving friend says Palin looked really stupid in the interview. So, hearsay yeah, but this isn't a courtroom.

Biden, I think he's a really nice guy and has always seemed very genuine. Even when he's wrong about something he believes, at least you know he's sincere about it, that it matters to him, but that he's not going to hate you if you disagree with him. I think he'd be a really good president, kinda Reganesque, if he simply wouldn't always follow the Democrat's platform even when they're totally wrong. Even on personal issues, saying many times that the truck driver who collided with his now-deceased wife's car was drunk at the time, is simply wrong. If you get something that momentous in your life wrong or mixed up, where I would think ever factoid would matter and where I would have been on that truck driver's ass until fully proscecuted, then I'm reluctant to beleive anything you say. Not because I think you're a liar or that you're trying to deceive, but that you simply get things mixed up and thoughts of what might be, become facts to you.

So, where's Ralph Nader in these debates? He's probably the only one that actually tells the honest truth about everything. But, I'm reluctant to vote for a 60 y/o virgin.

Anyway, who cares how any of these people grew up. What matters now is if any of them can hurt the country more than what GW would with another 4 years. The answer is probably no, but of the three, Hussein is more likely to screw up because of his lack of understanding of international matters, like when the US speaks to you, it's recognizing you. For Hussein to not understand that or at least the implications of it, a Hawvawd law graduate... something's fishy or very wrong. Either way, the guy is a total newb and surprisingly dumb for someone supposedly so smart. I fail to see the reason for the excitement of his proponents, all I hear from him is sound bite statements, talking about how things should be but nothing about how to get there. McCcCcCcain... not much better than Hussein but at least he knows how everthing works in Washington and around the world, so that gives him the edge over Obama even if Palin turns out to be a total idiot.

Rice signs missile defense deal with Poland

Rice signs missile defense deal with Poland: "'When you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988,' Rice said. 'It's 2008 and the United States has a ... firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland's territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it's probably not wise to throw these threats around.'"

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Yeah, we aren't scared of Russia. They can take their threats and stick it where the Sun doesn't shine. Russia is F-ing stupid if they think we'll let them help Iran and do nothing to protect our friends. If Russia would simply not help Iran with obtaining nuclear weapons, then we'd probably have much less reason to help Poland. So, Russia has made their own bed, and now they have to sleep in it. Dummies. But I'm sure it's just an act, surely their government isn't THAT naive... well, then again...

News 8 Austin

Case of non-triggerman set to die raises questions
8/19/2008 7:30 AM
By: Associated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas—Jeffery Wood's lawyers don't dispute that the convicted killer deserves punishment for his role in a 1996 convenience store holdup in which a store clerk died.

But Woods' attorneys and supporters contend he doesn't deserve to die for the shooting death of Kriss Keeran. They cite the fact that Keeran's murder happened while Woods was waiting in the getaway car outside the store in Kerrville. They also point out that the gunman who killed Keeran with a gunshot to the face, Daniel Reneau, has already been put to death.

Attorney Scott Sullivan said “a non-triggerman shouldn't get the death penalty.”

Wood is set to die in the Texas death chamber in Huntsville Thursday in a case that again put under scrutiny a unique Texas law that makes accomplices as culpable as the killer in a capital murder case.

Wood would be the ninth condemned prisoner put to death this year and the fifth this month in the nation's busiest capital punishment state. At least a dozen other Texas inmates have execution dates in the coming months.

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This has been the law for quite a while, it seems fair to me. Maybe the guy who shot the fatal bullet would not have been so apt to kill if he didn't have a get-away driver in the first place. So, the only question I have is, "Who cares?"

Who's the idiot in charge over there?

A Finding, Perhaps, but Not of Mars Life - NYTimes.com: "A complementary experiment that vaporized a sample of soil detected a whiff of oxygen at high temperatures, which may have been released from the perchlorates. The presence of perchlorates would have been confirmed if the experiment had also detected chlorine, but because the scientists were not expecting perchlorates, they did not calibrate that instrument to look for chlorine."

-Wow, so there may be something on Mars that we didn't expect to find. That's just crazy! Whoa, who would have ever thought to maybe analyze the soil for everything or close to everything possible so that we can learn something from the millions of dollars used to shoot the robot up there? I mean, you'd have to be a real genius to think of that...

Seriously, I'm more shocked to find out that NASA limited its parameters on what they expected than the presence of perchlorate, because usually the truth of most things, especially extra terrestrial, turns out to be unexpected. Here's a clue NASA, get it!

Obama says Iraq war must end

“In fact – as should have been apparent to President Bush and Senator McCain – the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was."

Wow, so the whole "Al Kayduh in Iraq" was just a ruse! I was so blind, I thought all those people we were killing and were killing us were terrorists, wow, I wonder who we've been fighting over there then. The news did mention "foreign fighters" a lot, so maybe we've just been fighting off Syria or Iran from taking over Iraq all this time? Is that what it is?

Or maybe he's saying that since the central front, as opposed to the flanks and every other front, isn't Iraq (again, huh?), then it's not worth fighting unless it's the central front. Well, excuse me, but I think we should be fighting terrorism on all fronts. And even if there wasn't a single terrorist in Iraq at first, they're certainly there now.

I think it's great Hussein is seen as some sort of new age MLK or whatever, but this country deserves a president that isn't going to back out of fight due to low popularity. No war should be popular, nobody should actually want to be in a war, but shit happens and when it does, you have to deal with it and not just act like a sissy-boy.

Car plows into bike race in Mexico, 1 dead

The Associated Press

Jose Fidelino Vera Hernandez

A car collides into cyclists participating in a race in Mexico's northern border city of Matamoros, Sunday, June 1, 2008. At least one person was killed and 14 injured when a driver slammed into a bicycle race.

A car has plowed into a bike race along a highway near the US-Mexico border, killing one and injuring 10 others.

Police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez says the 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race.

A photograph taken by a city official shows bicyclists and equipment being hurled high in to the air by the collision.

Rodriguez says Juan Campos was charged with killing Alejandro Alvarez, 37, of Monterrey.

Authorities say the wreck happened 15 minutes into the race along a highway between Playa Bagdad and Matamoros.

Campos says he is an American citizen living in Brownsville, Texas. U.S. consulate spokesman Todd Huizinga said officials were looking into whether Americans were involved.

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I look at the picture and wonder if the cop could have shielded the bicyclists from the oncoming moron. There must have been time, after all someone with a camera had time to turn and watch, and one bicyclist had time to go to the side of the road and stop, just ahead of the cluster.

And I think of how lucky that one bicyclist is, the one on left side of the cluster who's still on his bike, inches from being hit like the rest of the group. But then a guy is falling on him, otherwise head first onto the road.

Look at the flying helmet, probably from the guy who's flying on the leftmost side. And the other stuff flying... no doubt that the car has some speed at point of impact. From the angle and blur, it looks like the stuff was still traveling up.

Anyway, quite a tragedy, and seeing a picture of it really drives home the story more than if it had just been an article. I would have thought that the 10 injured ones simply fell like how you see in the French Tour, aka Tour de France. I wouldn't have imagined that they had all tasted the impact, that the car mowed them all down.

Imagine being one of them... you got up that morning excited about riding in the race, it starts, you're going along and talking with friends or trying to get in a decent spot... then... a POS drunk guy passes out while driving in his POS car, and runs you over. Now you're hoping you won't die like the other guy, or that you won't be paralyzed, or that you won't be in pain for the rest of your life.

Yep, doing just about anything can get ya killed.

Sharon Stone not welcome at Shanghai film fest: organisers

AFP: Sharon Stone not welcome at Shanghai film fest: organisers

Yay for Sharon... and she is not, and has not, apologized for her comment. Good. The only thing is, I don't think it could have been karma for the recent Tibet drama because karma usually takes a while to kick in. I think it was more likely for the Tiananmen Square massacre. The Chinese government acts like they're so appalled by her comment, but guess what's in the headlines now... they're cracking down on protestors that are parents of children lost in the earthquake. Children who died because of shoddy construction of their schools. How sad is that? Pretty freekin sad.

Militant group warns of Mosul retaliation

Militant group warns of Mosul retaliation: By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD - An al-Qaida in Iraq front group warned Tuesday that insurgents were waiting for the right moment to retaliate against a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in the northern city of Mosul.

And why is this news? Did someone actually see this and say, "WOW, who'd uh thunk it?" Slow day for the AP? Yeah, thought so. After all, isn't that what they always do? It's sorta like their job, to wait for "the right moment" to attack just about anything, especially funerals. And I read about how our ground forces can't use hollow points because of the rules of war... so I'm wondering why that applies to terrorists, and why can't we use or buy more than one type of bullet?

Anyway, I have a feeling that the front group was answering question when they made that statement, the question being, "what happened to you, are you giving up?" Yeah, just waiting waiting for the right moment... sure, whatever ya say bub.

The era of big Clintons is soon over.. huh?

The Associated Press: The era of big Clintons is soon over: By CALVIN WOODWARD
One quarter of Americans have never known life without a Clinton trying for or having the presidency. Millions have gone from diapers to diplomas in the time of the Clintons.

Ok... what? Today, Hillary Clinton is currently running for the Dem nomination for President. So she is currently running for President. So... only one quarter of Americans are aware of this? That doesn't make sense. Surely more Americans than that know.

So... was the author of this lame article trying to insinuate that the Clintons have, since the time that Bill Clinton first ran for it, continuously been in or seeking the office? If that's what he's thinking, where has this author been for the last 8 years? There was no Clinton seeking to become President after Bill's 8 years in the office, nor was there one when Bush won his 2nd term over Kerry. So that doesn't make sense.

So, the author must be saying that Hillary has been seeking a path to become President, since her hubby left office... but that's not really accurate.

Well, maybe he's just saying that a lot of Americans are cotemperaneous with the Clintons in a political position in one form or another... that's true, but that's not what Calvin is alluding. Calvin is just plain wrong.

Bring on the Hydrogen!

2008-04-25

Israeli invention could pave way for hydrogen cars

By David Shamah

Everyone's heard that old story about the scientist who invents a "magic pill" that turns water into gasoline -- with the invention eventually getting into the hands of the oil companies that bury it, fearing they will be driven out of business when word gets out about their competition. It sounds like science fiction, but believe it or not, that's exactly what happened to Moshe Stern, head of C.En (Clean Energy), who said his company's scientists have developed a revolutionary breakthrough that will enable automobile manufacturers to produce -- and sell -- cars that use hydrogen power. It's a breakthrough that has been getting a lot of attention -- and oil companies got wind of it, too, with one company allegedly offering him $50 million to shelve his project. Stern didn't take the money, though; he intends to see his hydrogen car project through. As a result, he said, for the first time the West has an opportunity to make a real dent in its dependence on OPEC oil. Hydrogen has long been the great green hope for governments and environmentalists, as well as the ideal opportunity to lessen oil imports for Western countries -- since hydrogen can be manufactured from water. President Bush has set aside billions for development of the technology, and hydrogen is the preferred alternative fuel for public vehicles, like buses, in many cities. Among the cities with at least some public buses fueled by hydrogen are London; Reykjavik, Iceland; Perth, Australia, and Santa Monica -- where nearly three-quarters of all municipal vehicles of all types are powered by the fuel. Instead of producing carbon monoxide or other harmful pollutants, hydrogen fuel emits water vapor, which is certainly better for the environment than fossil fuel emissions -- even though some scientists believe it should be considered a greenhouse gas. Lower pollution and less money for OPEC -- hydrogen sounds tailo rmade for the fuel problems that ail us. While Bill Gates of Microsoft fame may have been right when he said, "If GM kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles per gallon," the fact is that the industry says that hydrogen is still not ready for prime time. While producing the hydrogen is easy enough, getting the fuel into the car and storing it in a fuel tank are some of the biggest obstacles for the technology. This, industry experts say, has traditionally been the deal-breaker for increased hydrogen use. Most hydrogen vehicles on the road use a liquid form of the material, which requires a super strong and super heavy storage tank. Liquid hydrogen is unstable and needs to be insulated from the excess shocks of bumps and potholes that are a part of everyday driving, so the tanks themselves are large and heavy, and hold about five gallons of fuel -- enough for barely 160 miles of driving. Then there's the issue of integrating the fuel into internal combustion vehicles that, for better or worse, are unlikely to be phased out anytime soon -- as well as the question of where drivers are supposed to fill up, because hydrogen stations are rare. All these are legitimate concerns that have kept hydrogen development restricted more or less to the laboratory, Stern said, and all concerns that are addressed and solved with C.En's hydrogen storage and supply solution. The difference? C.En's tank uses hydrogen gas collected from the environment (i.e., not produced from fossil fuels) and enclosed in a thin but leak-proof glass container. The best part: Drivers will be able to buy "gas" at automotive or discount stores, fueling up approximately every 370 miles. Stern said they can build a 16-gallon tank that weighs no more than 100 pounds,unlike tanks currently used for liquid hydrogen that weigh several hundred pounds. "Our company's breakthrough is in accumulating hydrogen in a glass material that is very small, only a few microns," said Stern, who is also president of Environmental Energy Resources (EER), a waste treatment company. "You don't need to transport hydrogen to fuel stations, and you don't need pipelines. The tanks will be like a battery that can be replaced, and you can carry a reserve in the car." When you run out of hydrogen in one tank, according to Stern, you just pull out the empty cell and put in the fresh one, which will be good for another 370 miles. The cells, in fact, will act just like batteries in electric or hybrid cars and fit right in with the standard internal combustion engine -- which means that Detroit or Japan don't have to retool their factories or production lines to build cars with the capacity for hydrogen cells. The know-how and means of production are in use right now, in fact, as almost every car manufacturer is already producing hybrids or straight electric cars. George Sverdrup, technology manager for the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory's hydrogen, fuel cells and infrastructure technologies program, said that once the storage problem is solved, there is no reason hydrogen cannot be used as the premiere fuel to power cars. "We can use hydrogen to decrease our dependence on imported petroleum, because it can be produced by a variety of domestic resources, including water and biomass," he said, adding that his group has made a great deal of progress in recent years figuring out ways to store hydrogen more safely -- a problem solved by C.En's invention. Stern is coordinator of the project and chief investor. Among the others are Israeli, as well as Korean, Japanese and Russian investors. The head researcher is professor Dan Eliezer of Ben-Gurion University, an expert in hydrogen who has done work for NASA and security organizations in Israel and the United States. The team has conducted more than 100 tests over the past several years and is going to be conducting field tests in Germany, where the company will seek approval by BAM (the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing). "With our solution, we have solved the three major problems that have faced hydrogen fuel technology -- size of tank, its safety and lightweight storage," Stern said. "In addition, we believe that the use of this system will actually reduce the price of cars overall, chopping about $1,600 off the sticker price, since the standard gas tank will no longer be necessary." In addition, hydrogen fuel produced in this manner has another advantage, Stern said, "Since we are in essence producing a battery," he explained, "the technology can be adapted to work with other devices and products that utilize battery power, as well, such as laptop computers and cellphones." A laptop battery product to scale would be cheap and easy to make, he said, and allow far greater periods of untethered, electricity-free work than the current Li-On batteries used by many laptops. After six months of testing in Germany, where the company expects approval by the BAM institute, Stern and his team will present the technology to U.S. authorities and international carmakers. "BAM's approval will be accepted worldwide, and at that point, we will be able to close deals with a strategic partner," Stern said. Meanwhile, C.En has raised $10 million so far and expects to greatly increase its stake once the testing is done. "We are looking now for one of the giants to adopt our technology and support it," Stern said. It's hard to imagine he won't find several companies to embrace his breakthrough, which could really, finally, solve the oil problem, once and for all. Article courtesy of The Jerusalem Post.

Army general 'mad' about condition of housing at Fort Bragg - On Deadline - USATODAY.com

There's a thing called the chain of command, there's a thing called inspections, and there's a thing called notice. The Army, as screwed up as it may be, had all 3 of those.

Inspections are done all the time, if you live on base then it's just part of living on base. You're usually told when an inspection is coming, but sometimes you may get a surprise inspection. Superiors conduct the inspections and not deficiencies. The Army also has engineers and building inspectors or whatever that are supposed to report up the chain of command any deficiencies. There are also the people who live in the structures who will complain to their superiors when something is wrong.

So, I find it impossible to believe that the Army didn't have notice that its barracks were having problems. The person in charge of the base's barracks had to have known, or should have known, that there was a problem with that building's plumbing, and being the slime-ball, lazy, slum lord that he is, did nothing. No, I don't know the person, but their work ethic and standard of care is plainly evident.

The person in charge of barracks over there at Bragg should be stripped of rank and kicked out because the guy is an idiot even by Army standards. I was in the Navy, so all Army pukes are in a way inferior of course... but rivalry aside, as a human being, I think the person(s) who allowed this to happen... this health hazard where people have to live and sleep... where people go after doing their daily grind on the job, where they should be able to relax and go take a piss without having to tread through sewage... yeah, the person(s) who allowed this to happen need to be in front of a judge or panel of judges and receive the max penalties allowed, including some jail time if at all possible, because to allow this was indeed criminal.

Who the hell would want to join the Army or ANY service if this is what they thought was the norm. No wonder people don't want to join anymore, not only do you have deploy to Iraq or Afstan, but when you come back you have to live in filth too. Bump that!

That said... people pull some nasty pranks sometimes. Clogging a toilet with toilet paper, for example. Some are more elaborate than others. So, if thing was just one of those nasty pranks, then the pranksters need to be caught and sent up the chain because that is just going too far.

Been a while

It's been a while since I blogged here, I did the myspace thing for a little while but the whole thing with myspace seems a little "kiddy" to me. Facebook is better, but still. I looked at some of the blogs I've done here, wow. It's been a long time since Sheri, and it's really sad I still think about her every freekin day. I want so bad to find someone else... I've been dating a lot, too much probably, but none of them had it, whatever "it" is. Sheri had it though, I think I simply may have met her too soon. If I had gone through all these women first, then I would have done a lot more to at least try and keep her. But it's too late, way too late. So I just hope one day I'll meet a woman I I'm attracted to and can fall in love with.

So, I pretty much worked out all last year, 2007. I'm in a lot better shape, I weigh about 185 lbs, and do strength and cardio. I was going to get to 200 lbs, but at 190 I felt like I was having to force feed myself. So, a muscular 185 seems to suit me well enough.

Right now, it looks like I may get an interview with a place in Houston that would actually pay a decent salary. Crossing my fingers. And the other day I worked my ass off at my granny's, pulled up 3 stumps, fixed up a step path, pruned stuff, weeded/hoed... a lot of yard work since my granny is about to put her place up for sale once some work is done to fix up the house. Well, this guy comes by, loves the yard and offers $60,000 as is. My granny told me I made her yard beautiful. She also said they walked along the steps I had fixed up and liked them. So basically the guy is buying the place based almost entirely on the yard. We figured it's a good price considering how much it was going to take to get the house up to snuff... it needed a lot of work. So now as soon as she closes on the house, my dad will buy her a new place.

Oh, I also read a ton last year. I started off reading some novels... SK's The Cell, and a good one called The Last Templar. Then, I decided I wanted to try something different, a different genre. So, I did a lot of research and decided I would try out the, "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. Or at the very least the first book of it. So, I bought "A Game of Thrones" which is the first book of the Song. Oh... My... God... that book SO kicked ass. The book is thick, but the story is so good you wish it was even longer. And I guess it is, but you have to buy the next book, and I did. And it was either just as good or maybe even a little better! There's 4 books out in the series right now, the 5th one should be finished shortly, according to GRRM, the author... George R. R. Martin. Oh, the genre is Fantasy, but it's not at all what I thought it would probably be like. I had read a Fantasy book before, called the Magician, I think it was 2 books in one, had a character called Puc I think. Anyway, it had magic and all that junk in there. But in Song, it's hard for me to truly characterize it as Fantasy, or at least pure Fantasy. It's more... hard core, grit... people die in this, people you wouldn't think would be killed, it really catches your attention and makes you think, "What the?!?!" And then there are the adult scenes which is nice since you know this was made for adults. Anyway, I can honestly say I haven't read anything that I've truly enjoyed reading as much as this series. I just wish the author wouldn't pussyfoot around so much and would just concentrate on finishing this series. Yeah, I'm selfish like that. :)

So, I read all 4 books and wanted more. So I did a little more research and decided to go ahead and try my hand at the "Wheel of Time" series, by Robert Jordan (pen name). My research basically told me that the first few books were good, but that the author seemed to be dragging out the series, and spent too much time describing things that didn't matter. Also, the author had a blood disease and was working to finish the series in the next book, even if the book turned out to be 2,000 pages. I figured, maybe by the time I read all 11 books, then the last book will be out or will out soon enough. Oh, I also read that one could skip books 7-10 and wouldn't miss anything (that's so wrong). So, what the heck, I'll give it a shot, and if it gets too boring I'll just find something else.

While reading the first book, there appeared to be somewhat odd similarities to what's found in Song. Not a direct stealing of ideas from Jordan, but you can tell some things aren't a far stretch. Anyway, if you read that first book then you HAVE to read the second, and then the third, and so on, in my opinion. Yes, I found another series I really liked. I got to the books that some people had said could be skipped, and they were entertaining, and flowed with the story, and if you skip them you're stupid. I got to the "Crossroads of Twilight" which has lots of reviews on Amazon, some of the funniest reviews ever are regarding this book, all putting it down in imaginative ways and rating it low. But, it's actually good. I think the real problem is that when you wait 2 years for a book to come out, you get your expectations too high. However, reading the series straight through eliminates the unreal expectation and the whole body of work flows very smoothly. But, unfortunately, I believe it was while I was reading Crossroads, that I found out Robert Jordan had succumbed to the rare blood disease. It was really weird, I opened up my excite.com homepage, was going to check my email and just happened to catch his name in the news section, and it said he had died. A whole world in conflict, good and evil colliding, Rand, Aes Sedai, the Chosen, the Aiel, Matt & Tuon, Perrin & Faile, Aviendha, Elayne, Min... so many interesting things going on, and the storyteller is gone.

Luckily Robert Jordan, knowing that there was a chance he wouldn't be able to finish writing the book, made sure a couple of people knew the conclusion he had in mind, and made notes, outlines, etc. so that someone could finish it for him. So, as I write this, some guy in Utah is writing that critical last book. There are a lot of people that have read the WoT series since it has spanned nearly two decades. Hopefully this guy won't make the same recurring grammatical errors that Jordan seemed to be fond of. I'm sorry, I can only take so many "had had" and the use of the wrong homonym. But writing fiction is really more about ideas and telling the story than getting perfect spelling and grammar. Anyway, I think the last WoT book is due out in 2009.

So, reading took up a lot of time for me in 2007, and I figured I wanted to do something different this year. I thought about what I deficiency I could improve on and enjoy in the process. Well, I definitely don't watch as many movies as most people, and people will talk about some well known movie... and there are movies that everyone seemingly has seen or should have seen by now. One example I guess is Schindler's List, never saw it. So I decided I'd work on movies this year, and got on with Netflix, 5 dvds at a time. So, since about February I think, I've been watching a lot of movies. I think I like reading more. But, I'm going to go through a bunch and then I'll either quit Netflix or reduce it to maybe 2 or 3 dvds at a time. I won't Blockbuster because they force movie makers to edit their movies to BB's standard. Don't believe me, watch A Clockwork Orange from BB, they cut out a lot. I had rented it since my cousin had never seen it, and I couldn't figure out why it seemed to stupid, then I realized that it had been chopped. Much like how Walmart won't sell CDs they deem vulgar, the maker/distributor simply edits the product to make it suitable for the retailer. Corporate morality... Thanks, but I'd rather see the movie as it was meant to be seen, I'm a grown up, I can handle it, jackass.

Ok, enough for now.