And don't you forget it...

Public Embarrassment -- THE Punishment for the Cocky Youth of Today

CNN.com - Woman ordered to wear sign declaring her crime - Jul 31, 2004: "Woman ordered to wear sign declaring her crime

SALISBURY, Maryland (AP) -- A woman who stole $4.52 worth of fuel was ordered to stand outside the gas station Friday wearing a sandwich board sign that declared: 'I was caught stealing gas.'
Sherelle Purnell obeyed the court order, although by the time she arrived 90 minutes late to her noon sentence, the crowd of people that gathered to watch her had dispersed.

'There were parents who came with their children, wanting to teach them a lesson,' said Jan Phipps, manager of Gordy's Tiger Mart, which pushed for the unorthodox punishment.

Purnell, 18, who was caught on surveillance tape speeding away from the gas pump, walked along the convenience shop's grassy storefront as passing drivers honked horns and made catcalls.
Andrew Black, who stopped by on his lunch break, was critical of the punishment and converted an old beer poster into a sign protesting high gas prices.

'What is this, the Middle Ages?' said Black.

Purnell declined to comment.

Some passers-by considered the punishment to be a good deterrent.

Embarrassment is the best way to deal with these things," Randy Jedlicka said.

Wonder if she stole that Coke too?

The winner of the "Yeah, you think?!" award goes to...

I was thinking we hand Bin Laden over to the UN, and then they can have some touchie-feelie trial which lasts for 10 years. Yeah, that'll be a great idea. Those member nations really give a damn about what that monster did to the United States. Maybe next time that reporter will ask Kerry a question to which the answer isn't so obvious.

Kerry: Try Bin Laden in U.S. Court
Friday, July 30, 2004

NEWBURGH, N.Y. -- John Kerry said Friday he would put Usama bin Laden on trial in U.S. courts rather than an international tribunal to ensure the 'fastest, surest route' to a murder conviction if the terrorist mastermind is captured while he is president. Read more here.

Help is on the way!!!

I didn't much like all the empty promises and this damned stupid phrase that "help is on the way".  That really irked me.

Help?  Last time I checked, we were doing pretty good pulling our own asses out of the gutter.  And again with this health care thing...yeah, like that wasn't a promise of another Democratic administration several years ago.  How are we supposed to pay for this health care plan of yours, John John?  You think the government can run health care?  It's tried to run social security for over 50 years, but it's still doomed.

Maybe John Kerry should have told those people living paycheck to paycheck to get off the frickin' sofa, turn off American Idol, and do something productive.  Help is on the way?  Whatever happened to personal responsibility?  Whatever happened to making something of yourself?  Whatever happened to asking not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?  JFK this John F. Kerry is not.

Kerry Lied in Vietnam -- From the mouths of the Navy crew that served with him

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth - Service to Country

Democrats Shooting Themselves in the Foot

We know that 90% of the electorate has decided. And barring some miracle or disaster happening, I'm pretty sure those numbers are not going to change. With a statistical dead-heat in this race, the undecided voters will be choosing the next president; not the hard party-liners.

Herein lies the issue: Assuming that numbers will stay roughly the same where they are through the two conventions, and guessing that the scheduled presidential debates are not ground-breakingly won by any one candidate, the undecided will vote for the status quo.

The Democrats have an additional problem: their cockiness. Despite the Kerry camp's failed half-hearted attempt to keep the convention speeches "clean" of the frequent Bush-Bashing, there has not been one America-unifying speech made by any of the convention speakers.  A possible exception was Dereck Obama who gave a very good speech at the DNC.  If the Democrats had more people like Dereck Obama, the Republicans would be in a lot more trouble.

But the fact is, they do not.  I hear nothing from these major Democratic figures except a deep hatred of President Bush.  I see nothing but Democrats preaching a message of division, causing anger and alienating those voters who have thought long and hard and eventually choose George Bush for a second term.  I see former presidents (Jimmy Carter) and key Democratic party members coddling and cheering an America-hating individual named Michael Moore; someone who spits on America's character, its soldiers, and its people whenever he is outside of this country.

You have to give George Bush credit no matter who you are, though.  This man has Grade-A armor plating to have taken the abuse that he has, and I have a deep respect for him because of it.  And if the Democrats aren't careful, there will be more voters out there who decide to cast a vote for GWB as a message for the Democrats, and for that matter, the rest of the world, to go screw themselves.

I was taking a look at the Zoloft website...

...and here's what I found:

"...If you have social anxiety disorder, you often get very nervous around other people. It feels like everyone is watching you and judging you. You're afraid of making a mistake, or looking like a fool. You will do all you can to keep that from happening. You may even avoid certain people, places or social events.

Social anxiety disorder is a serious illness. It can cause real problems in your life. Like any health condition, it needs to be treated.

Social anxiety disorder can make you fear or avoid

Meeting new people
Talking to your boss or anyone in charge
Speaking in front of groups
Drawing any attention to yourself

If you have to do these kinds of things, you may

Blush
Sweat
Tremble
Have a fast heartbeat"

Can't people just talk to a girl anymore?

I'll take a quarter pounder and an order of stem cells.

I have no problem with embryonic stem cell research, and personally am all for it, but didn't Ron Reagan sound like the guy you see selling those ginsu knives at 2 o'clock in the morning when he gave his speech today?

I also liked how he said in the beginning of it that this was not a political speech.  I guess you wouldn't know it from the stage he was standing on at the time.  That, as well as the fact that at the end of it, he asked us to make the "...vote for embryonic stem cell research" this upcoming election.

Dis be sum good stuff.

Simply unbelievable...and wrong on so many levels (definitely more levels if you consider yourself a strong pro-lifer).  I think I want a T-Shirt that says "I shot an Activist"; then let's see how long I survive walking down the street.

The Democratic National Pep Rally, part I

I'm not religiously watching the DNC have its party, but occasionally, I go to the various news channels until I see something that makes me want to kick in the nuts the person who's pandering to the viewing audience.

I happened to be watching Sean Hannity interviewing Howard Dean...two people whom I believe to have their own agendas, obviously...but keep in mind that the GOP isn't going to have Sean Hannity speak at their convention.

What really got my blood boiling was when Dean refused to admit that there was any connection between Iraq and Al Qaida. Dean is WRONG! How do I know? I read the part of the 9/11 commission report which stated that there was a connection between Al Qaida and Iraq. The only thing the 9/11 commission stated was that there was no DIRECT LINK between 9/11 and Iraq, but the link between Iraq and Al Qaida was there.

So, what did Dean do instead? Dean told Sean Hannity, once he was backed into a corner, that Hannity should watch "Outfoxed", a mockumentary funded by MoveOn.org; a wonderful (yes, I'm dripping with sarcasm) organization that works around campaign finance reform to sling all sorts of half-truths and BS all over a confused public. This leaves us few intelligent ones to filter through all of the garbage to see how these bad politicians work.

Just wait...next week, Dean is going to show his squeakiness and claim that he meant "no direct link between Iraq and Al Qaida when it comes to 9/11." *sigh*

Those Sons of Bitches...

Scouting jetliners for new attacks - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - July 22, 2004: "Scouting jetliners for new attacks


By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Flight crews and air marshals say Middle Eastern men are staking out airports, probing security measures and conducting test runs aboard airplanes for a terrorist attack.
At least two midflight incidents have involved numerous men of Middle Eastern descent behaving in what one pilot called "stereotypical" behavior of an organized attempt to attack a plane.

"No doubt these are dry runs for a terrorist attack," an air marshal said.
Pilots and air marshals who asked to remain anonymous told The Washington Times that surveillance by terrorists is rampant, using different probing methods.
"It's happening, and it's a sad state of affairs," a pilot said.
A June 29 incident aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles is similar to a Feb. 15 incident on American Airlines Flight 1732 from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.
The Northwest flight involved 14 Syrian men and the American Airlines flight involved six men of Middle Eastern descent.
"I've never been in a situation where I have felt that afraid," said Annie Jacobsen, a business and finance feature writer for the online magazine Women's Wall Street who was aboard the Northwest flight.
The men were seated throughout the plane pretending to be strangers. Once airborne, they began congregating in groups of two or three, stood nearly the entire flight, and consecutively filed in and out of bathrooms at different intervals, raising concern among passengers and flight attendants, Mrs. Jacobsen said.
One man took a McDonald's bag into the bathroom, then passed it off to another passenger upon returning to his seat. When the pilot announced the plane was cleared for landing and to fasten seat belts, seven men jumped up in unison and went to different bathrooms.
Her account was confirmed by David Adams, spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), who said officers were on board and checked the bathrooms several times during the flight, but nothing was found.
"The FAMS never broke their cover, but monitored" the activity, Mr. Adams said. "Given the facts, they had no legal basis to take an enforcement action. But there was enough of a suspicious nature for the FAMS, passengers and crew to take notice."
A January FBI memo says suicide terrorists are plotting to hijack trans-Atlantic planes by smuggling "ready-to-build" bomb kits past airport security, and later assembling the explosives in aircraft bathrooms.
On many overseas flights, airlines have issued rules prohibiting loitering near the lavatory.
"After seeing 14 Middle Eastern men board separately (six together and eight individually) and then act as a group, watching their unusual glances, observing their bizarre bathroom activities, watching them congregate in small groups, knowing that the flight attendants and the pilots were seriously concerned and now knowing that federal air marshals were on board, I was officially terrified," Mrs. Jacobsen said.
"One by one, they went into the two lavatories, each spending about four minutes inside. Right in front of us, two men stood up against the emergency exit door, waiting for the lavatory to become available. The men spoke in Arabic among themselves ... one of the men took his camera into the lavatory. Another took his cell phone. Again, no one approached the men. Not one of the flight attendants asked them to sit down."
In an interview yesterday with The Washington Times, Mrs. Jacobsen said she was surprised to learn afterward that flight attendants are not trained to handle terrorist attacks or the situation that happened on her flight.
"I absolutely empathize with the flight attendants. They are acting with no clear protocol," she said.
Other passengers were distraught and one woman was even crying as the events unfolded.
The plane was met by officials from the FBI, Los Angeles Police Department, Federal Air Marshal Service and Transportation Security Administration. The Syrians, who were traveling on one-way tickets, were taken into custody.
The men, who were not on terrorist watch lists, were released, although their information and fingerprints were added to a database. The group had been hired as musicians to play at a casino, and the booking, hotel accommodations and return flight to New York from Long Beach, Calif., also checked out, Mr. Adams said.
"We don't know if it was a dry run, that's why we are working together with intelligence and investigative agencies to help protect the homeland," he said.
Mrs. Jacobsen, however, is skeptical the 14 passengers were innocent musicians.
"If 19 terrorists can learn to fly airplanes into buildings, couldn't 14 terrorists learn to play instruments?" she asked in the article.
The pilot confirmed Mrs. Jacobsen's experience was "terribly alike" what flight attendants reported on the San Juan flight.
He said there is "widespread knowledge" among crew members these probes are taking place.
A Middle Eastern passenger attempted to videotape out the window as the plane taxied on takeoff and, when told by a flight attendant it was not permitted, "gave her a mean look and stopped taping," said a written report of the San Juan incident by a flight attendant.
The group of six men sat near one another, pretended to be strangers, but after careful observation from flight attendants, it was apparent "all six knew each other," the report said.
"They were very careful when we were in their area to seem separate and pretended to be sleeping, but when we were out of the twilight area, they were watching and communicating," the report said.
The men made several trips to the bathroom and congregated in that area, and were told at least twice by a flight attendant to return to their seats. The suspicious behavior was relayed to airline officials in midflight and additional background checks were conducted.
A second pilot said that, on one of his recent flights, an air marshal forced his way into the lavatory at the front of his plane after a man of Middle Eastern descent locked himself in for a long period.
The marshal found the mirror had been removed and the man was attempting to break through the wall. The cockpit was on the other side.
The second pilot said terrorists are "absolutely" testing security.
"There is a great degree of concern in the airline industry that not only are these dry runs for a terrorist attack, but that there is absolutely no defense capabilities on a vast majority of airlines," the second pilot said.
Dawn Deeks, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, said there is no "central clearinghouse" for them to learn of suspicious incidents, and flight crews are not told how issues are resolved.
She said a flight attendant reported that a passenger was using a telephoto lens to take sequential photos of the cockpit door.
The passenger was stopped, and the incident, which happened two months ago, was reported to officials. But when the attendant checked back last week on the outcome, she was told her report had been lost.
Recent incidents at the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport have also alarmed flight crews. Earlier this month, a passenger from Syria was taken into custody while carrying anti-American materials and a note suggesting he intended to commit a public suicide.
A third pilot reported watching a man of Middle Eastern descent at the same airport using binoculars to get airplane tail numbers and writing the numbers in a notebook to correspond with flight numbers.
"It's a probe. They are probing us," said a second air marshal, who confirmed that Middle Eastern men try to flush out marshals by rushing the cockpit and stopping suddenly.

California Democrats Out of Touch With the Common Man

Okay, so how many of you really believe that Arnold's comment calling some California lawmakers "girlie men" is insulting to women and gays?  It's definitely a smart tactic being used by Gov. Schwarzenegger.  Of course it's not politically correct, but refreshingly so.
 
Indeed, reaction to the comment was rightfully commented upon by a spokesman for the governor when he said "It's a forceful way of making the point to regular Californians that legislators are wimps when they let special interests push them around.  If they complain too much about this, I guess they're making the governor's point."
 
If the complaining goes on again, I think the 'Governator' should continue with the disparaging comments.  It's high time to vote out of office those legislators who have no idea how to represent the people they were voted to serve.

As I sit here working on my laptop, up pops a contact on my ICQ list whom I haven't seen in God knows how long--a list which I've maintained since first installing ICQ way back in 1997.  I have no idea who this person is on my list.
 
I guess it's not as bad as having people pop up on your list all the time and never talking with them at all.  Oh well...back to work.

Teen "Intellectuals"

Has anyone taken a look at the anti-Bush blogrings out on Xanga recently? I been perusing them randomly for the past week or so and have an interesting observation. A good majority of these bloggers are 14-16 years old. I grew up in Northern California, and you may be suprised that the political intellectuals in my High School had moderate-to-conservative views. Where did this psychotic liberal base appear? Is it because of Hollywood or music celebrities influencing the young? Is it because it's "cool" to hate George Bush? I think it's mostly so.

So far, I have not yet heard an argument by the other side which holds water. And if you think you've got one, post it in the comments. I'll be glad to school you. :)

Protest Warriors

Take a look at this website and see anti-war hypocrisy in action. When you look at the videos in this website, keep in mind that these anti-war protestors are supposed to be standing for 'peace and freedom'.

Hitting Rock Bottom

If you ever moved away from Blogger to Xanga, now is the time to come back.  The posting feature is much more user friendly, with WYSIWYG capability (What You See Is What You Get) like Xanga.  Just thought I'd let you all know...  Along with the image posting capabilities, audio postings (both for FREE!), I think it now leaves Xanga in the dust.  Check it out!

 

This land is your land, this land is my land...

Check out this clever flash animation.  It has been bogged down by traffic recently, but keep trying.  It's worth it.

House of Pain watches a film by a Pain in the Ass

Perhaps I've been influenced by the propagandist named Michael Moore, whose movie I watched last night.

It was interesting to finally see the techniques he used in this film, which to me looked an awful lot like the way he presented 'Bowling for Columbine'. What particularly struck me about this film? Several things. I will comment on some of them below:

1. The film seems to be geared to three types of people: The uninformed, the anti-Bush crowd (the majority of whom may call themselves anti-Bush, but they really are uninformed), and the foreigners. Why could this not be geared towards people like me? The B.S. flag was raised a total of 5 times within the first three minutes of the film. And from that point on, Moore got a most incredulous eye from me, and I caught myself quite a few times shaking my head at the way Moore insults the intelligence of most Americans.

2. Military personnel should watch this film. I can guarantee you they would be incensed with the low esteem he places on our military. On one hand, Moore coddles the poor young enlisted, along with their families, for being "drafted into the military machine", and on the other, he slaps them in the face by portraying them as killers of the innocent. This REALLY pissed me off.

Perhaps Moore couldn't be in the military because he was too much of a fat ass. Moore's focus on class struggle about who actually enlists in the military? Well, I can't deny that. Just remember that the military is a way for the have-nots to become the have's. In my eight years (including NROTC) in the Navy, I have personally seen and heard stories of people turning their lives around because of the US military. Some of the brightest people I have met were in the military.

This is how an all-volunteer force works. You need to have recruiters; it would be irresponsible/impossible to have a military otherwise. And Moore going to Washington to recruit the sons and daughters of Congressmen? Give me a break--I've got two big problems with this recruiting stunt. First, the two Marine soldiers he follows in Flint, MI are trained recruiters. That's how they get people to sign on. It's salesmanship, and they're good at it. Finally, in Washington D.C. where Moore pulls his recruiting stunt along with a disgruntled Marine, not only do more people in Congress have sons, daughters, nieces and nephews in the military than is stated by Moore, but Congressmen also know Moore's agenda. If I was a Congressman, I wouldn't listen to this guy, and he obviously doesn't have the professional sales technique of the two marines in Flint, MI. Besides, if he actually recruited some Congressman or Woman's son or daughter, the entire segment would be ruined. Moore is also not a have-not. Did you know that his daughter attends an expensive private school? Perhaps he should go to Germany where the government requires that all citizens do a term of military service, and then his daughter can go into the military for a country whose people are much smarter than Americans. But that's enough of that.

3. Moore's vendetta against the Fox News Channel. Michael, Michael, Michael...the reason why people watch the Fox News Channel is because they're already familiar with the alternatives. And despite your belief that Fox News caused Gore to lose the election, I didn't know that news channels were the end-all be-all with determining elections. And aren't you disenfranchising the voters that actually voted for and elected Bush for president in Florida?? Yup, I think so. And guess what--just as you claim that 'numerous independent investigations' say that Gore won Florida, I know that there are other independent investigations conducted not only just after the election, but a year afterwards when the time was taken to say that Bush would have won in Florida anyways. Yeah, maybe there were invalid ballots. Maybe next time people will take the time to not be lazy about how they punch their ballot.

4. I noticed that Moore leads the people he interviews, much like lawyers sometimes lead witnesses on a witness stand. What does that mean?
leading
1) v. short for "leading the witness," in which the attorney during a trial or deposition asks questions in a form in which he/she puts words in the mouth of the witness or suggests the answer. Leading is improper if the attorney is questioning a witness called by that attorney and presumably friendly to the attorney's side of the case. Thus, the opposing attorney will object that a question is "leading," and if so the judge will sustain (uphold) the objection and prohibit the question in that form...

Watch the movie, and you will notice this happening a couple of times. It can certainly help you make your case, that's for sure. I'm suprised I haven't heard of anyone else picking this up.

5. Moore for some reason does not even mention Bush's religious conviction. It puzzles me because it would seem to me to be a divisive issue for Moore to criticize. Perhaps that will come in a future film...or maybe he skips this issue altogether because he doesn't want to alienate the people on the fence he could pull to his side

6. If President Bush is so stupid, how on earth could he organize such a grand conspiracy against the American people? It's reminiscent of the mid-to-late 90's obsession with UFO conspiracy theories and all the made-for-TV crap to go along with it.

7. I find myself recalling Occam's Razor (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/OCCAMRAZ.html) when I think about Moore's film, and I ask you to remember this logical principle when you see F911 and the ridiculous relationships he makes between President Bush and Osama Bin Laden. You will no doubt find it applicable to other parts of the film as well.

8. The film is a hit in foreign countries because it supposedly confirms the beliefs that the United States is a place full of stereotypical "fat, ugly Americans" -- overbearing to people of different cultures, oblivious to the world around them, unsophisticated, greedy, and arrogant. Isn't it ironic that they've found and befriended in Michael Moore the stereotypical American they've come to hate?

I will use a quote from F9/11 to wrap this up. It was stated by Lila Lipscomb in the final minutes of the movie, a mother exploited by Michael Moore because her son died in Iraq. "Ignorance...that's we're dealing with [in] every-day people, 'cause they think they know, but people don't know..."

The world is not an easy place. If you want to be sure you're doing the right thing and are sitting on the fence about which way to vote, be sure you know the facts, and don't be misled by believing what you see on the silver screen.

Fahrenheit 9/11

I was able to watch F9/11. I'll be making comments this evening. You may be suprised by what I have to say... Stay tuned.

For those of you concerned, don't worry. I didn't put any money into Michael Moore's Coffer. :)

Michael Moore Lies Again -- No Surprise There

Well, what do you know. Another "fact" in Michael Moore's movie shot down in an interview between Matt Lauer and Osama's half brother. Let this be another lesson to you Moore-ons.

MSNBC - Bin Laden half-brother breaks silence

It takes courage to fight for what's right.

This may take some time to load, but it's worth it. This is why you have to be smarter than the media and celebrity morons who seem to be some people's only source of news and information. Oh, and speaking of 'moore-ons', take a look at this:



God Bless America and the liberal fools within.

|\/|Y L33t $k1Ll5 4$ 4 P|-|0+09r@PH3r

Here's a picture I took when I was in Seattle. I was there the last week of June. The thing that amazed me was the fact that it didn't get dark until after 10:30PM, and then started getting light at around 3:30AM. This picture, if I remember correctly, was taken the 30th of June at around 10:00 PM. Someone requested more pictures I took on my trip to be posted on the blog, so I will from time to time. Enjoy!
Seattle, WA -- The Space Needle

Arcata Eye Newspaper : Feature Story 03-12-02

Take a look at this article and tell me if Michael Moore makes any sense at all. This was an article published over two years ago, and even here, he looks like the same bumbling blowhard as he is today, if not even more radical. Why is he so dangerous? Because uninformed voters actually consider his film to be fact-worthy. Read this article, and you may have second thoughts about how mainstream this guy really ISN'T.
Arcata Eye Newspaper : Feature Story 03-12-02

The Hydrogen Economy

The link above was something that piqued my curiosity after listening to an interesting conversation about a hydrogen-based economy on NPR. It was a (mostly) non-partisan discussion, and it brought up a lot of points that I never considered, such as the staggering challenge of converting not only our automobile infrastructure to support the change, but our buildings and homes as well. I think we can do it, though, as we have seen that throughout history, necessity has been the mother of invention; hence the nuclear bomb and optical technology (CD's and DVD's), things that were ahead of their time when they were invented. Perhaps that way, when we have no foreign dependence on oil and our own domestic energy sources, we can eliminate the scourge that is fundamental islam forever.

Road Trip

Recently returned from a road trip from San Diego, CA to Vancouver, BC and back. Along the way, we made stops in Seattle, WA and Mt. Saint Helens, Bainbridge Island, WA, Seaside, OR, Tillamook, OR (home of the best cheddar cheese in the world), and Bodega Bay, CA, to name a few. Basically, went up highway 5 northbound, then headed back down the 101 and Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco. It's a beautiful drive and I highly recommend it. I was most impressed with Oregon. Stayed in Seattle for about five days and visited Pike Place Market where the very first Starbucks Coffeshop was opened in '71, toured the Space Needle, the Port of Seattle Locks (Sockeye were spawning!), the Boeing Aircraft Museum to see inside of an old Air Force One and the last Concorde from British Airways.

Mount Saint Helens

Former Air Force One

Sockeye Salmon through the fish ladder at the Port of Seattle Locks

Northern California -- Made a pitstop on the Pacific Coast Highway