Siempre, Cait

2007-02-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

Ughhh.. so sick...

I've been really sick for forever and a day it feels like... and I'm getting sicker too. I'm exhausted, and I wanna sleep for a while. But I can't. I can't ever get enough sleep it feels like. Ugh.

My throat hurts and I'm sore and grrrr... these past few days have been brutal for me.,,,

However, I finally quit my job! I get a break until I get a new job, which is FANTASTIC because I'll get some time to myself. However, I won't have any money. Which sucks too.

People were over friday. That was great. Loved it.

2007-01-30T22:09:00.000-08:00

I really need to stop spending money.

I broke down and purchased $0.99 worth of music today on iTunes. The new Modest Mouse single - you know, 'Dashboard' - and I felt so spendy. :)

Now I'm listening to it obsessively. You know I live REALLY close to where those guys started, and actually saw one of their first gigs.

They're really expanded since then, but they still suck live. I saw them... two years ago, when they were still doing their Float On tour, but they were HORRIBLE. I left early. That doesn't stop me from digging the album, even though I know its all digitized...

2007-01-29T14:53:00.000-08:00

Ugh. School. Today was the first time in over a week that I've gone the full day. It was hard. I' exhausted.

1st, Chem: We went over "balancing equations" which really is just algebra with chemical names instead of variables. Waste of my time, boring, etc.

2nd, Eng: Discussed Thoreau and Emerson, the Transcendentalists, and God. One word: Ow. That class is ridiculous. Its Honors, so they encourage "high levels of learning". This generally translates into "higher levels of bullshit so I sound smart". No, really, it was interesting, but there's a lot of bullshit in that glass, but then I get confused and UGH.

3rd, Espanol: Went over vocabulary and watched an episode of our soap opera. Yeah, that's pretty much the extent of that class: Go over vocabulary that's going to be IN the soap opera and then WATCH the soap opera. Its surprisingly effective, as we're kinda at the point where we can't STUDY any more grammar really, we just have to EXPERIENCE it now. And learn vocab, which can be intimidating.

4th, Math: Reviewed stuff for Final. I don't even understand that class enough to give a synopsis.

5th, Drama: Icky sophomores pretending to beat each other up. So much "talent" exists there. I just chalk it up to wrath of Darwin.

6th, AP US History (known as APUSH): Silent study period.

After school I jetted over to work to check my schedule. I'm working the night of Tolo, the Sadie Hawkins dance of the year. Oh well, I didn't ask anyone so its not like I'm missing out on anything.

Chels got turned down by Joe, but she didn't care 'cause she sorta knew he'd say no, and he was nice about it. I took her out for lunch to lament her rejection, but she wasn't up for lamenting.

Shucks. I wanted to lament so badly too.

A letter came from Driftwood today too. They're advertising for theatre shows they're putting on this spring. Generally I work a spring show, but I've been so sick and tired and missing school so much I bowed out. Hopefully, I'll ASM for the musical for school this year and I'll get my theatre fill.

And uggghhh I have to go buy a suit for Model UN. We're going to a conference in Berkeley, CA and the dress code requires nylons and skirts and a SUIT. Ughhhhhh... so nasty. It'll be roasting.

Okay, over and out for today. I have 'bout 10 pages of Espanol to do.

2007-01-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

Today was OK in the end. I got to sleep in and chill out today. Nothing terribly special. Everything interesting happens tomorrow.

2007-01-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

Augh.

I didn't sleep until 5AM. Its a cruel, cruel world.

I should go work out, but rearranging my google homepage is so much more cooler.

Peace.

2007-01-28T03:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so now that I'm up at 3AM I might as well make a list of things I'm going to write about so that later when I'm bored I'll have a list of something to write about.

Why I'm blogging, for one.
My script.
Theatre.
Honors English
Stupid people.
Work.
School schedule.
Languages.
Religion.
Politics.

Haha, that's all well and lovely, so hopefully that'll spark SOMETHING in me, eh?

Gaaah, cat ate my foot.

2007-01-28T02:54:00.001-08:00

Shit shit shit shit shit shit.

Sleeping has all of the sudden become optional, according to my body clock. 3 AM and I still can't sleep. I tried to sleep earlier, but "damn cat" has decided that he is just too cute and important for me to sleep and ignore him.

Oh, well. What's a girl to do but post in her blog, eh? One of these days I'll figure out how to make this something cool and fun instead of time consuming and annoying. Meh. Whatever.

2007-01-28T02:54:00.000-08:00

How can normal people sleep? I don't remember NOT having insomnia.

2006-07-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

Today is a sad day for Seattle.

Friday night there was a shooting at the Jewish Federation Building in Seattle. A muslim man, apparently spewing anti-Semite slurs shot and killed one woman and injured 4 others.

My friend, who is a leader among the youth of the Northwest Jewish Association or something (forgive my ignorance, but its really hard to keep it all straight sometimes) was totally freaked out.

He has every right to be. I'm proud of local law enforcement for treating this as a serious hate crime, but they aren't running around pointing fingers at general groups.

(For the record, this isn't an Anti-Muslim rant. Some of my best friends have been Mluslim and i'm definately glad to be their friend. Just so we're clear before I get to the meat of my rant.)

What I'm most concerned about is that the national news coverage of this. I could find more articles about Mel Gibson's DUI charge then about a hate crime shooting that killed one person and injured four. I mean, seriously. This is a crime that is directly linked to national politics (even though there's no links to terrorist organizations as of yet) and yet no one is talking about it. Sure, an article here or there but what happens when we don't give the story the coverage it deserves? We forget that Israel and the Jewish people are the victims, not the bullys. Between the Holocaust and the Hezbollah, Semites have had their share of being kicked around.

Don't even get me started on the history of the jewish people circa ancient Rome.

This is so sad.

2006-07-28T02:22:00.000-07:00

In a hotel about five miles from my house right now.

Hardwood being redone. House is toxic.

Internet sucks.

2006-07-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome all to the 201st edition of the Carnival of the Vanities. I'm your host, Cait, and we have an excellent selection of posts for you today. /cheery McDonalds cashier voice

No, you may not have fries with that. Stop bugging me about McDonalds.

Anyway, I worked long and hard for this puppy. Let me tell you - I'm having hardwood floors redone so I'm packing up my room and painting it AND doing the carnival pretty much all in the same day. So yeah, this post is pretty much my only post for the day - so my commentary is laced in the carnival because I am efficient. Ok? ok.

Yes, I know I talk about myself a lot in this post. Here's the thing though - I really ENJOY it when people post what they think about the article or post or essay or whatever we're supposed to call them. So I talked about the articles. So there.

A funny thing though - we have a HUGE selection of posts on finances today, so sit back and enjoy.

(I really really really like money.)

(Like, a lot.)

Finance and Business
Julia Dorofeeva has an interesting post on "How to Promote Your Business To Potential and Current Customers." The article is aimed more towards the owners of dating sites, and also looks at some less thought about techniques.

Free Money Finance posted an opinion piece on "Should Kids Pay For Their Own College Expenses or Should Parents Pay It All?" A good post with interesting points. My two bits - Split it up. My parents and I have an arrangement that they will pay for tuition and books, and I pay my room and board.

Peter Kua from RadicalHop.com submitted "Passion or Cash? Heaven or Hell?" A commentary on the ethics and morality of some companies, Mr. Kua has made insightful points.

This is a post that really speaks to my heart. I don't know whether the author is LDS (Mormon) like I am, but tithing is an idea that has been taught to me since I was little. I can't stress enough how much pay tithing has done for me financially and spiritually. Pete from My Financial Awareness presents a beautifully written article on the concepts and benefits of tithing called Gift of Tithing.

Free The Drones submitted a post entitled Improving Your Credit Score: Change the Way You Pay Your Debts. I don't really have too much to say on this subject, as I don't even have a car, let alone a credit score. According to an adult friend of mine, its got some good solid advice.

Francois Tremblay from his blog The Radical Libertarian volunteers an interesting commentary on Accountibilty in Market. I don't even find economy interesting and this was written well enough that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Trent from Stock Market Beat demonstrates an example in trying to solve the stock market puzzle with his post CSG Systems: Something in the Cards?

George from Fat Pitch Financials reviewed Wealth : Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It by Stuart E. Lucas. Its an interesting review, with a nice overview.

An interesting point about online purchases from Five Cent Nickel: (In)Convienience Fees

Money? For bloggers? I'm all for it! Helping Bloggers: Donations and Scholarships written by Wayne Hulbert. Brilliant idea. Absolutely brilliant. Let's start by paying the people who post the carnival. Just kidding!

According to Steve Faber from Debt Free, I'm Already A Millionaire. I'll take his word for it.

Interesting thoughts on trickle-down economics from Adam: Tax Cuts for Diner Owners.

Health and Nature
This is an article that really speaks to me, as a true Washingtonian and a lover of nature. GrrlScientist from Living the Scientific Life has posted an article with a review of the field guide "Birds of Washington State." This is an eloquent review, by the way.

Aparna from Beauty & Personality Grooming presents The Benefit of Walking.

Some natural beauty recipies from Vinoba. I never thought of these.

Comedy and Humor
I had a little trouble deciding where to put this one. I decided to put it under humor, because there's a lot more humor than there's actually science Francois Tremblay from Goosing The Antithesis recounts a tale of Gene Cook on Science and Evolution. Congrats on making me laugh.

Mr. Buckley Williams from The Nose on Your Face has posted Top 9 Things Joe Liebermann Finds Preferrable To Bill Clinton's Campaign Support. Really funny stuff.

Shang Lee presents Why Do I Feel Like a Dog. Don't we all feel like a dog at some point in our lives?

NSFW. Hamza Yusuf and Haram Sex Music, by Unwilling Self-Negation. Some sort of narration or parody. I found it hilarious, so its going to comedy.

The Skwib presents The Devil's Dictionary. I don't know what to say. This is a work of genius. Granted, NSFW genius, so be careful.

This got put under Comedy not because of the questions themselves, but because of the answers imagined. 50 Questions to ask any Democrat, presented by Alan K Henderson.

Technology and Innovation
Barry Welford from StayGoLinks presents The Mobile Divide. Being the technojunkie I am, this was actually really cool to read.

Home and Work
Mama Duck from Lil' Duck Duck narrates taking her little one out to the pool in "The Joy of the Pool." Speaking as a part-time nanny, this experience is definately heartwarming. Thanks for sharing!

Dad from Raising4Boys.com presents Monitoring the Sex Offender Registry. I am very close friends with someone who was molested at an early age, and I cannot stress this concept enough.

Tam gives us a little insight into Workplace Annoyances. You know, I can totally identify with that. It doesn't only apply to work, it applies to school and classes as well.

Paula from Coaching 4 Lesbians brings up an interesting point: Why don't we have handwritten thank you cards anymore? The Lost Art of the Handwritten Thank You.

Current Events and World
Oooh! Oooh! I really liked this post. Really really really liked it. I'm not sure if showing preference while hosting a carnival is allowed or not, but I really enjoyed this essay. Searchlight Crusade presents Israeli Response Disproportionate? Absolutely not!

Stephen from Fearless Philosophy for Free Minds comments on Paying For Others' Risky Behaviors. Bravo! Its time to take responsibility!

Jack Yoest posts about the new World Trade Center movie that's directed by Oliver Stone. I so cannot wait to see this movie now. I'm so glad that its not an item on the left-wing agenda. Presenting: World Trade Center, Oliver Stone's New Movie.

A post on Bush's veto of the Stem Cell Research bill. Thought provoking stuff, there: Meditations on Mengele by Gnotalex.

Interesting thoughts on Immigration and Segregation from Conor Friedersdorf. I reccomend the read.

Oh dear peak oil! We're all gonna die. Or not. A "pragmatic view of the dreaded 'peak oil' and how we're not gonna die." (I love author submitted descriptions! Adore them!) Amusing thoughts from Thomas Ott.

Ethics and Ideas
Its Francois again! Mr. Trembly, I do believe you submitted three different posts under three different blogs. Technically I'm not supposed to allow that, but they're all so pretttyyy.... Speaking of ethics and morality, here's an essay on Morality is Not Outside of You.

Brandon from GT presents Spirituality is Integral to Humanity. This is a really thought-provoking article, one I hope that people will spend some time on.

Deep thoughts from Larry Angell regarding "Live Well and Die Young".

And now for something completely different:
Adam from Creative Destruction presents The Era of Passion. Apparently this is what happens when you take something waaayy too seriously.

Samuel from New Property Blog informs us that Popularity of Overseas Retirement Resorts is on the Rise.

This guy is SO on top of it. Not only did he send an email not via the universal carnival submit page, he provided me a description to post as well. Sweet deal! Without further ado, Ian A from MyQuo.com presents Game Plan for Complaint Resolutions: Calling in to a company you are doing business with to correct a problem or concern can be an intimidating experience. Here are 5 things you should do to make sure you are taken care of.

Shannon Hurley Hall from Sharon's Freelance Writing Advice presents How To Prove You Can Write When You Have No Clips. She says: "The other day someone asked me a question. It was: 'How do you apply for a writing job when you have no writing credits?'. I knew the answer because when I relaunched my writing career last year all my writing credits were old. They proved that I used to be able to write, but there wasn't any recent history to show that someone had thought my writing was worth publishing. The advice I gave is based on what I did. Here it is: How to Prove..."

Self written description from Michael McCullough about his book review: Trial by Ordeal, by Craig Parshall: The hero in Trial by Ordeal, Kevin Hastings, is similar to Grant’s character in North by Northwest. However, instead of the savvy, street-smart character that Grant played, Hastings is a study in naiveté. Stung by a romantic breakup and setbacks at gaining full professor status teaching history at a small college, Hastings sets out to make himself wealthy by investing in real estate, helped by his Uncle Mort, who turns out not to be so helpful after all. The piece of property that he purchases — an old church in downtown Chicago — changes from a dream to a nightmare when Hastings unwittingly sells it to a Chicago mob boss and soon discovers that he cannot deliver on the deal.

Ok. Whew. That's it. I'm done.

Let me know if there are any broken links, mistyped names or inaccurate descriptions. I like fixing these things. My email? z e b r a o n f i r e [ a t ] m s n [ d o t ] c o m .

Thank you and have a nice day.

2006-07-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

Twiddling my thumbs until midnight and I can finally post Carnival of the Vanities.

What's up, everyone?

2006-07-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

Heaven help me, I work in fast food.

I work in a McDonalds about two miles from my house. I make the fries. At the end of the day, I am covered in fry grease and salt. Literally, from head to toe. All in all, its not a bad job.

Now, fast food isn't wholly a job to be ashamed of when you're a junior in high school. However, you wouldn't believe the comments I get on a regular basis pertaining to my job.

Friday night I attended a minor league baseball game. There, I ran into the mother of an old friend from prep school. She was gushing about her daughter, which is acceptable, and about how she had this wonderful job as a lifeguard and how she was making so much money etc etc.

Well, imagine my embaressment as I had to inform her when she asked that I worked as a fry cook for McDonalds.

The reaction?

"Oh... well.. that's a poor job, isn't it? Couldn't you get anything better? What's that pay, minimum wage?"

Uhm, HELLO! BIG blow to the self esteem. I am SUCH a loser according to her and compared to her precious daughter (who, by the way, would be mortified if she had heard about it.)

I hate adults who think that if teenagers aren't getting straight A's and in every club and committee then they're losers.

I am not a loser.

/rant

2006-07-23T22:55:00.000-07:00

A new cretin of the week, ladies and gents:

Robert Fisk.

This is a ridiculous man with a penchant for fallacy. Currently stationed in Lebanon in the heat of the Israeli bombings, this man is whining about how Israel is destroying a "beautiful city."

In my honest opinion, no city can be beautiful if its government is corrupt as Lebanon. By allowing Hezbollah to continue its terrorist dealings in its country, Lebanon is definately smashing any sense of decency.

Granted, its a sad thing that a population of innocent people has to take the brunt of the retaliation, but diplomacy and talks apparently have failed. Besides, why is Hezbollah allowed to kill pretty much whoever they want in the name of political agenda? Why shouldn't Israel defend herself?

Oh, by the way, point at laugh at the DailyKos for a bit. This is the sort of writing that makes me laugh out loud hard enough for people nearby to be concerned.

Hezbollah is attacking Israel, and Israel's punching back.

Ok that's enough of my opinion, back to my flaming of Fisk. Today, in the Seattle Times, an editorial was published written by Robert Fisk that was so ridden with fallacies and pity-me tactics that I wanted to shoot something. Unfortunately, the whole article isn't available online. At the risk of being unprofessional I will quote a couple of parts of it. Should anyone want to question me, I will send them my copy of the article which I dug out of the recycling to get because my family threw it away. God help me should two people want it.

And then, most disgraceful of all, we leave the Lebanese to their fate like a diseased people and spend our time evacuating our precious foreigners while tut-tutting about israel's "disproportionate" response to the capture of its soldiers by Hezbollah.

I walked through the deserted city center of Beirut last week and it reminded me more than ever of a film lot, a place of dreams too beautiful to last, a phoenix from the ashes of a civil war who'se plumage was so brightly colored that it blinded its own people...

Yeah yeah yeah... somehow, I think he's exaggerating a bit. No, I have not been to Beruit but I don't think the city blinded its own people. At the risk of sounding dense, this guy is definately trumping up and throwing in every bit of empathetic detail he can.

Cue the violins.

(PS: Ok, every bit of high school english has told me that run-ons are bad, and let me tell you those paragraphs are each one sentence. His writing makes my head hurt, seriously.)

2006-07-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

A bit of local drama for y'all.

Ok, first off, the Sonics aren't that great of a basketball team. They have no right to demand anything, let alone renovations on the Key Arena.

Also, as far as arenas go, the Key Arena isn't that bad. Its old, but its not bad.

Yay greedy people?

2006-07-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm back. So sorry.

Between starting my first fast food job and juggling this whole youth counselor thing, its been a little crazy around here. I'm definately back in action though.

2006-07-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posting. I know, its bad form right when the blog is just taking off.

My cat - who is my pride and joy and I adore him (He's like my only child, seriously) - is very ill. Pet hostpitals, vet appointments and starting my summer job all kinda happened at the same time.

I hope you all enjoyed the fourth very much. For the sake of fun, (if anyone reads this little thing) let's share what we did.

I, with my friends, had a safe and fun evening with fireworks. No, seriously. You'd think teenagers with fireworks would be scary but it really wasn't. We didn't do anything that was unreasonable.

Yeah, my aunt didn't believe me either.

2006-07-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

I will be hosting the Carnival of the Vanities July 26th.

Save the date!

(Hahaha I'm so excited. Excuse my girlish pleasure.)

2006-07-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

Google may have to fight for its right to display what it wants.

There are two sides to this. On one end, Google is a private enterprise and should be able to do whatever it wants. On the other end, Google is a huge service and could potentially censor the internet. Well, not fully censor per se, but definately inhabilitate other sites.

So where do we draw the line?

Personally, I think the line should be drawn at eradicating search results. As long as Google doesn't eradicate search results, and just puts them where they want, they should just be left alone. If that parently site wants more exposure, they'll have to do advertising outside of Google.

2006-07-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

Boycott the Times. That's pretty much the only thing left to do.

Exhibit B, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Our job, especially in times like these, is to bring our readers information that will enable them to judge how well their elected leaders are fighting on their behalf, and at what price.

Uhm, what? Sure, yeah - under normal circumstances. But there's a higher duty here. There's a duty of citizenry and the Times is just bustin' that one right and left.

2006-07-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this is malicious or not. However, the timing is so... convienient that it makes me wonder. It all looks so innocent. Providing maps and pictures of where the VP and other top Cabinent members spend their free time can't be a good idea, though. Can everyone say National Security? Michelle Malkin has an excellent post on it.

To some degree, I feel like something must be going down. However, I am not a conspiracy theorist by nature. Such thoughts make me feel like I'm just getting paranoid. But you can't deny that all of this seems to be happening at the same time. Remember in May, when Rumsfeld's house was attacked by protestors? Karl Rove, his house was host to some left wing thugs.

I might have to agree with Ms. Malkin on the whole thing. Something wicked this way comes.

On kind of the same note, I'd like to talk about the Wall Street Journal's involvement in all of this. Updated yesterday, this article reveal's the Journal's perspective of what happened.

Exhibit A, ladies and gentlemen:

According to Tony Fratto, Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, he first contacted the Times some two months ago. He had heard Times reporters were asking questions about the highly classified program involving Swift, an international banking consortium that has cooperated with the U.S. to follow the money making its way to the likes of al Qaeda or Hezbollah. Mr. Fratto went on to ask the Times not to publish such a story on grounds that it would damage this useful terror-tracking method.

Sometime later, Secretary John Snow invited Times Executive Editor Bill Keller to his Treasury office to deliver the same message. Later still, Mr. Fratto says, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, the leaders of the 9/11 Commission, made the same request of Mr. Keller. Democratic Congressman John Murtha and Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte also urged the newspaper not to publish the story.

The Times decided to publish anyway, letting Mr. Fratto know about its decision a week ago Wednesday. The Times agreed to delay publishing by a day to give Mr. Fratto a chance to bring the appropriate Treasury official home from overseas. Based on his own discussions with Times reporters and editors, Mr. Fratto says he believed "they had about 80% of the story, but they had about 30% of it wrong." So the Administration decided that, in the interest of telling a more complete and accurate story, they would declassify a series of talking points about the program. They discussed those with the Times the next day, June 22.

Around the same time, Treasury contacted Journal reporter Glenn Simpson to offer him the same declassified information. Mr. Simpson has been working the terror finance beat for some time, including asking questions about the operations of Swift, and it is a common practice in Washington for government officials to disclose a story that is going to become public anyway to more than one reporter. Our guess is that Treasury also felt Mr. Simpson would write a straighter story than the Times, which was pushing a violation-of-privacy angle; on our reading of the two June 23 stories, he did.

** (Some blog orginally posted about this same article. However, I can't remember this one. If it was you, leave a comment or something so I can give the appropriate credit where its due.)

Huh. That reveals a lot. The WSJ is a very boring newspaper, but goshdarnit they are dependable to the last. Yes, I realize that this is a biased source, but come on. This is a newspaper who could be fighting with the Times, arguebly the most influencial print media of our time. (With the exception of the my generation's unfortunate following of Cosmo Teen and Sports Illustrated.) Instead, they are fighting against it. The Journal, if it was smart, would throw its weight with the Times and hide under the First Amendment.

Instead, the Journal is practicing journalism. A poor reporter would report anything that came its way, regardless of fact or purpose. That is what the Times is doing. It reminds me of a kindergardner that I nanny for. "Cait! My brother called me stupid! Punish him!" Except, in this little allegory, ladies and gentlemen, the general citizenry are the babysitters and the Times is this whiny little kid. However, a good journalist would realize that there's a time and place for everything and let it be. Picking its battles, this smart journalist would realize that not everything is worth a huge fight, and keeping it secret would benefit more than it would hurt.

Congrats to the WSJ for being so patriotic.

The government is not looking to prosecute its own citizens, people. Its looking to protect its citizens. The enemy here is the Times, not the government.

2006-06-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Basil's Blog is a blog that I really enjoy reading. Not all of it is political. He gives us baseball updates and humorous odds and ends to enjoy as well.

Today's Picnic is linked here.

2006-06-30T00:23:00.000-07:00

An interesting treatise on flip flops at the workplace (Reuters.)

Personally, I wear flip flops quite frequently. Then again, I'm a high school student. I'm not a professional. I also wear my junior high PE shorts to bed and I'm guilty of not brushing my hair before I go to school. (In my defense, you can't really tell if my hair is brushed or not half the time because its so frizzy. I happened to be running half an hour late.) According to the lady I nanny for it really depends on the workplace itself. Some places are pretty uptight and some aren't.

Fortunately, in my line of work (yay part time nanny job!) it really doesn't matter what I wear. I'm guilty of pajamas over a bathing suit.

2006-06-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

2006-06-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

***PRECISION-GUIDED HUMOR ASSIGNMENT***

June 27, 2006 - Seattle, WA

Paramedics were called to a local woman's house, where she was found weak and emaciated. No names were released.

An officer on the scene, when questioned, replied that the woman had chained herself to her living room couch in protest of Fox News' referring to the Hamas organization as 'thugs'.

"They aren't thugs!" she was quoted as saying. "They're people too, and Fox News forgets that they're a legitimate organization. How would Fox News feel if the Hamas organization referred to the American Presidency as 'thugs'?

She continued with "I'm not moving from this spot until Fox News apologizes."

Paramedics expect her to make a full recovery.

2006-06-29T22:38:00.000-07:00

Gracious.

This is a case that has intrigued me for quite some time. After a couple of years of watching daytime 'Judging Amy' reruns, I've kinda wondered what judges do when they're bored at the judgement seats. Now I know. Although I kinda wish I didn't at this point...

2006-06-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

A confused columnist for the Washington Monthly poses a good question.

Not really. Idiot of the month, ladies and gents, Kevin Drum:

June 27, 2006

EXPOSING SECRET PROGRAMS....As long as I'm asking dumb questions, here's another one. No one is going to believe me when I say that I'm not trying to grind any particular axe here, but....I'm not trying to grind any particular axe here. I'm just curious.

OK. So the New York Times has now exposed two anti-terrorist initiatives: the NSA's domestic spying program and the Treasury Department's financial tracking program. The administration says that exposing these programs is bad because terrorists will stop using telephones and international credit transfers now that they know the U.S. government can monitor these activities. Thus, we have fewer ways of catching bad guys.

Fine. That's true. And yet, isn't there an upside too? If the bad guys stop using telephones and bank transfers, doesn't that reduce their effectiveness considerably? No phone calls, no wire transfers, satellites watching you, drones attacking out of nowhere, websites hacked, no one who can be trusted — at some point their whole operation grinds to a halt out of sheer paranoia.

Now, I assume that the people running these programs aren't idiots. If they think that keeping them secret is a net positive, they're probably right. But nobody even mentions the upside of exposing them. Surely there is one, isn't there?

No, Mr. Drum, there really isn't.

This is the problem with liberals, in my opinion. Liberals think that everyone is dumb. They believe that if the government (or in this case, the media) can outsmart everyone else, the world would be just fine. Uhm. The government, unfortunately, cannot outsmart terrorists if all the aces are exposed when newspapers rip government's sleeves off.

Another case in point - gun control. According to liberal doctrine, if guns were controlled to the point where pretty much no citizen could get a hold on one, then no one would have guns and there would be no more crime. Except by those evil police officers. The bad guys are ALWAYS going to find another way. Because they're the bad guys. Our job is to stop them by arming ourselves, not disarming everyone.

2006-06-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Little Green Footballs makes an interesting point.

I hadn't really noticed before how a lot of major media sources weren't linking the fact that Hamas is the leading governmental part. But its so true. He points that out here. Goodness.

2006-06-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

My heart goes out to this family. It really does. The following is not meant to marginalize Sgt. Lisk's sacrifice.

But look who published this? NYtimes is at it again. Sob stories of soldiers dying. Again, and again and again I support the troops with all my soul, but honestly, its not anything they didn't sign up for. Its not like they didn't know that there's a war on, and they might die. So why is the NYTreason trying to dissuade us from this fact?

I don't know, ladies and gents.

2006-06-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

This is so wrong.

While insurgents are insurgents and this sort of behavior is rather expected of them, calling the wives of men in the military to inform them that their hubands are going to die or have died or some equal gross wrong.

War used to be an honorable thing. Raping and pillaging was done by barbarians. We are being attacked on all sides. (Granted, the majority of the women as of yet are British, but I'm a world citizen thankyaverramuch.) This, essentially, is mental rape. Men's voices telling you that your husband is dead at night when you're at home - you have no idea if they're correct or not.

The calls aren't going to stop unless we kill this thing. This... evil... that is permeating our society.

2006-06-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

The good folks over at the Drudge Report have a very non-biased article about "The View" ladies.

Specifically, Star Jones.

Much respect to the people over at DR (as I fondly call it in my head) for being able to keep a straight face while writing it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy a catfight as much as the next Average Joe, but honestly. These women are older than my mother! Leave the fights and tears to those who can get away with it. For years, I've enjoyed watching The View when I was home sick from school. The idea that adult women who are probably going through menopause can get away with such a petty catfight is ridiculous. Sure, its over who has a spot on the show or not - but maturity must not come with the job description.

Over at good ol' BHS, I'm a peer mediator. Basically, I get pizza parties once a month for helping students work out their problems between each other. All I can say is that for this little scrimmage, I would have demanded at least two pizza parties that month.