Work

Is for the birds.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me get that document specialist position. PLEASE. Because I cannot stand the admin gig anymore.

Scum

While I was waiting to get my coffee this morning, I glanced over at the newspapers for sale, specifically the NY Times.

 

What do Republicans do when faced with pissed off people and dismal polls? Never fear, it's time to smear the queer!!

 

One of the front page stories: "G.O.P. Moves Fast to Reignite Issue of Gay Marriage".

 

President Bush and Republicans across the country tried to use a court ruling in New Jersey to rally dispirited conservatives to the polls.

 

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic, and par for the course. Instead of the "Redcoats are coming, the Redcoats are coming!" it's the "gays are coming, the gays are coming!" *cough* *cough*. Sorry about the really bad pun, but I am trying to make a serious point. (I'm glad someone is coming, I know I haven't seen any action in a damn long time.)

 

The GOP doesn't rule by managing the real and crucial problems facing our country: poverty, terrorism, education, constitutional rights. NO, they rule by divisiveness, hate and bigotry. If gay bashing is seriously the only way the GOP can hope to cling to power, PATHETIC.

 

I don't care who the hell gets married. It wasn't even a ruling on "marriage" per se. What the court in NJ ruled was that gay couples cannot be denied equal rights and treatment that a married couple receive such as: right to visit spouse in hospital, tax/medical benefits, etc. AND I THINK THAT IS CORRECT FOR THEM TO HAVE THESE RIGHTS. They're not second class citizens. They pay taxes and do everything we do. "They" are "us". Humans.

 

It just pisses me off to no end. You freako right-wingers, worry about your own damn marriages and mind your own business and let others take care of their own. If the basis of your vote is going to be repressing a group with different sexual orientation when we are facing much more important issues - issues the GOP and Bush have failed dismally at addressing TIME AND TIME AGAIN - then you are too stupid to have a damn vote.

 

!!

 

More Republican Lies (That's All They Know How to Do!)

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Lynn Sweet :: McSweeney's cheap shot: "2006
BY LYNN SWEET Sun-Times Columnist

Republican David McSweeney, challenging Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.), started running a new television ad on Monday evening. It's misleading when it comes to portraying Bean's position on Social Security and a cheap shot when the spot talks about her not protecting "our values."
A spokesman for AARP, David Sloane, said McSweeney "twisted" Bean's response to an AARP election questionnaire and said McSweeney's spot amounted to a "scare tactic." Sloane said the AARP was mailing a letter to all of its members in the north suburban 8th Congressional District --some tens of thousands -- to "make clear" the McSweeney spot was a "mischaracterization."

McSweeney's new spot is kick-in-the-gut tough. Bean has her share of hard-hitting ads. The issue here is when it comes to Social Security; McSweeney's ad is not accurate.

The ad states that Bean "supports raising Social Security taxes and cutting Social Security benefits." The attribution for that statement, the McSweeney campaign says, comes from the AARP Voters' Guide.

Republicans helping other GOP House candidates have been running ads against Democrats based on the same AARP Voters Guide.

The Annenberg Political Fact Check has analyzed these other claims -- not specifically McSweeney's -- and concluded, "Republicans misleadingly accuse Democrat House candidates of aiming to shrink benefit checks."

FactCheck -- at www.factcheck.org -- is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and is a nonpartisan center that "aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics."

Social Security faces a solvency crisis in the future. When and how severe an emergency was a matter of much debate between Republicans and Democrats in 2005, when Social Security reform was taken up in the House.

President Bush confused the discussion in 2005 by linking any change in Social Security to a plan to create voluntary retirement investment accounts. The accounts would be funded by diverting a small amount of Social Security payroll withholding dollars into these private investments.

The president criss-crossed the country to try to drum up support for his private investment accounts. But he never was able to gain much traction and Social Security faded as an issue. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert simply moved on to other legislative items rather than fight for proposals where there was disagreement even among his own GOP members.

Enter the closing days of the 2006 midterm elections. The battle over Bean's 8th Congressional District is one of the biggest in the country.

AARP asked two questions: "Would you support or oppose a balanced Social Security plan to continue the program's guaranteed benefits for future generations? Will you support or oppose using Social Security taxes to fund private accounts?"

Bean answered support to the first and oppose to the second.

AARP presented its own position to candidates at the time it asked for answers to its questions:

"AARP believes that a bipartisan plan that balances additional contributions from higher income workers with modest adjustments in future benefits can maintain guaranteed Social Security benefits for future generations." AARP is also against private accounts.

So lets dissect this: There is no one around who seriously advocates cutting benefits. That's political suicide. At issue in the overall Social Security debate is the pace at which future benefits should grow. AARP has never suggested rolling back benefits -- even adjusted for inflation.

On taxes: At present, a worker has 6.2 percent of wages deducted for Social Security, up to $90,000 of earnings. AARP is open to raising the cap -- but not the rate. What is Bean's position on this? Her answer is silent on this point.

"David McSweeney has insulted AARP and our seniors by refusing to respond to their questions, manipulating their voter guide and misrepresenting my position on Social Security," Bean said. "Clearly my opponent is so incapable of independent thinking, even his lies are dictated by his party."

McSweeney told me he did not answer the AARP questions because the way they were asked was "loaded." He said it was an "honest deduction" to summarize Bean's position based on the AARP survey.

"I don't think it was misleading," McSweeney said of his spot. "I stand by it 100 percent."

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State :: Meet the hacker who saved all of your secrets

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State :: Meet the hacker who saved all of your secrets

I'm glad Peter Zelchenko is doing someone else's job at keeping this stuff safe...

(And a child shall lead them) Killings reignite gun control debate - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

Killings reignite gun control debate - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com

Don't look now, but the emperor has no clothes!!

I love the kids.

"At a hastily arranged White House Conference on School Safety on Oct. 10, panelists covered topics ranging from metal detectors and school bullies to the value of religious beliefs and good communication between parents and schools.

But the word “gun” was not mentioned until a plucky teenager pointed out to a panel moderated by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that the common factor was easy access to high-powered firearms. President George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush attended separate parts of the conference but avoided mention of guns."

I fucking hate Bush. I fucking hate the NRA AND I fucking hate rabid right-wingers.

ABC News: Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections

ABC News: Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections

Shit like this infuriates me to the point of speechlessness.

So much for American "democracy". If you're going to vote, vote by absentee ballot! I certainly am going to.

Give me a break. This is exactly how Bush Co. STOLE the 2004 election.

Merry olde...

I just remembered that Nigella Lawson's show is on
today at noon. I just saw the commercials for it.

*happy sigh*

I love her voice and accent. It makes me
think...ENGLAND.

Send me back...PLEASE?? I feel "homesick"!

Travel Channel

Aaaahhh. They're doing their special on Australia.

All I can think about is cute Trent the Aussie that was on the same tour of Scotland as I was this summer. I smile.

Listen up!

Cute Trent, whose last name I do not know, if you are for some reason Googling yourself and find this page: LEAVE A COMMENT!

Google options?

Trent

Haggis Tours

Radical Tours

Cricket

Scotland

Skye High Tour

Go Baby Go!

Note to Co-Workers

You who send me stupid, complex last minute meetings for the beginning of next week AT FOUR PM ON A FRIDAY need to be shot.

 

Thank you

Lunch and Sunflower Orphans

I had, possibly, the worst excuse for chicken parmigiana at my work cafteria. ZERO flavor. And the carrots and noodles that I had as sides weren't much better. I ate maybe half of the sides, then went and got my cottage cheese.

 

The chocolate chip cookie I had was good though.

 

Back a while, I entered a shutterfly photo contest. I can't believe the lame ass picture that won. It's a frikkin SUNFLOWER. The number 2 photo (orphans in Africa) was better than that!

 

A picture of my ass would have been better than the stupid sunflower photo. Give me a break.

 

What photos were chosen as winners in the Travel Adventures photo
contest?

Find out now and see the winning photos for yourself by clicking on the
link below.
http://photocontest.shutterfly.com/action/photocontest/winner?contestId=761
(If you can't click on this link, please copy and paste it into your
web browser.)

1,001 Nights of Snowfall

Yes, dearhearts, it's true:

 

1,001 Nights of Snowfall is all that AND a bag of chips.

 

Go get it NOW before it's sold out. You'll thank me later.

 

Poor Flycatcher!!

Denny, Shut Up

OK, so I'm still in shock that the Bears somehow won when they clearly didn't deserve it, BUT I still take umbrage at Denny's comments:

 

"The Bears are who we thought they were!” he said, yelling at the top of his lungs and pounding on the podium at his postgame press conference. “Now, if you want to crown them, then crown their asses! But they are who they thought they were! And we let them off the hook!"

 

Admittedly, it was hilarious to see Mike Tomasulo of the WGN morning news peer out from behind and under his desk after the airing of that tirade and saying: "Is it safe to come out yet?"

 

I digress. Back to Denny: STFU. I admit we did not deserve to win this game, but whose fault is that? Oh, that's right: yours and the Cardinals'. You have the team that choked. At the end of the day that is your guys' fault. ALSO, the fact that you beat us in the pre-season means two things only: "jack" and "shit".

 

Pre-season means NOTHING. Those games don't count. Lord, if I could count the times the Bears and or the Cubs have rocked the pre-season, only to disintegrate into meaningless drivel...

 

Let's face it - we don't have a Pre-Season Superbowl for a reason. What you saw then does not guarantee anything you will see in a real live (TM) game that is during the actual season. We are not necessarily what you thought we were. Yes, we sucked, but we were also fucking lucky and have Brian "Hammer of the Gods II" Urlacher. (I say "II" because the original would have to be Butkus.)

 

Rant against Denny aside, I really wish Lovie hadn't refered to us as a "team of destiny". Save that shit for if/after you win a Superbowl. You can't make comparisons to the 85-86 Bears. That was one team whose likes will never be seen again.

 

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Jay Mariotti :: Curb your enthusiasm: Lucky Bears far cry from '85

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Jay Mariotti :: Curb your enthusiasm: Lucky Bears far cry from '85

Harsh, but true. We had absolutely no business winning that game. I still can't friggin believe it.

Someone send the Cardinals kicker a fruit basket. (And their coach blood pressure medicine. He like nuclear imploded in the interview!)

Snow White

I brought a fro-din (frozen dinner), but I kinda want soup. Panera sounds really good right now.

 

It was so fucking cold this morning. I had on my hat, scarf and new gloves. Last winter I swear I lost four pairs of gloves. I had to keep buying new ones: the cheapo $2.99 microfleece since I'd better not be spending more than that when I keep losing em.

 

At least I'm not in Buffalo NY, though. Could you imagine TWO FEET OF SNOW? IN EARLY OCTOBER? God, I'd scream my lungs out.

 

Last night I went to the Kwando class at Bally's. My shoulders are absolutely killing me now. After class, I went to Target to get stuff (besides the gloves just mentioned). I wound up buying some hair color. I got Clairol's Natural Instincts (the semi-permanent stuff). My hair is now "midnight neutral black". Holy shit, that stuff is <i>dark</i>. I look a little Snow White-ish. Oh well, it's not permanent. It should work for my Zatanna outfit at Halloween.

 

Work sucks. I'm bored and people SUCK.

It's weird to be awake

It is a normal thing, every weekday, for me to moan and mutter as I start my car: "God, I'm so tired!"

 

I didn't today. Yesterday was it; I was dog tired and couldn't take it anymore. Every now and then I get in these funks where I can't sleep worth crap or I just don't go to bed at a decent hour. Yesterday, I got home a little before 6, ate some food, and then crashed in my bed by 6:30pm. I woke up a little bit around 1am, but fell back asleep until my alarm went off this (frigid) morning at just before 6am. (To WGN 720 discussing the tragedy that is Cory Lidle. Dude, that sucks. And that's about all that can be said.)

 

And now...I am awake. It's a little trippy. I am not, I stress, "chipper" - just less grumpy and very alert. Chipper is for weird ass perky blonde types with cup size A boobs (unless of course they've had the silicone). I may have had nigh on eleven hours of sleep, but I still hate people who try to blow sunshine up your ass.

 

I'll keep my sphincters to myself, thank you very much.

 

Oh, but the morning was beautiful albeit cold. The clouds were all dark and brooding, piled upon eachother in great big circular globs in the east. At the Starbucks, the sun had come up enough behind them so that it set all the edges on fire. The clouds looked like they were gilt-edged. It made me smile.

 

I ran into one of my cousin's husband at the Starbucks, too - Jim. He can be a bit of an ass and usually gets on my nerves. He kept stepping in my way - you know when two people are trying to pass and can't decide which way to go to avoid the oncoming person? When I looked up and figured out it was him, I smacked him in the chest. Then we talked for a bit. I guess my other cousin Jackie went through her divorce*. (*) because she got her first marriage annulled. Not had too much success in that department. From what little I have heard, that whole situation sounds weirder and weirder. Her ex has the daughter and she lives on her own in an apartment. Hmmm. That's not the typical situation. I think from what I heard that it was she who wanted out...but man, think of the hurt that would do to the kid to have the mother not be there. I'm not trying to downplay the significance the father plays, but the mother - come on, this is the person that gave birth to you and brought you forth to the world. To have that person removed significantly from your life is harsh...

 

*sigh* That's enough for this morning. Gots to fill out my dental forms. Going to the oral surgeon today for a preliminary visit. My wisdom teeth may have to be leaving...

Blog Conversations - Slightly Kerouackian?

I haven't had a good "is she drunk, no she's sober" post to Sullivan in a while.

Does severe lack of sleep and a loathing of my job count towards a state of unsobriety? It also smells yeasty around here. I blame the guy in the office next to me.

Anyhoo...SO what is your position on VM so far? Last night I wanted to beat bully boy up. She makes enemies awfully quick - - I wonder how the whole sorority thing will play out in the long term.

I should have bought Pride of Baghdad today - but I didn't. When it comes out in softcover, sure. BUT NEXT WEEK: Fables 1,001 Nights of Snowfall - wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I want I want I want.

Have you moved to California yet or is that still in the works?

Halloween partying is afoot this year. I am reminded of the most excellent Buffy parties and all the glorious swag.

I need coffee. Or sleep. Preferably the latter. But I'll take a lottery win. I'd take care of the money better than Spike. And was something mentioned to Dorian about his chatter? He's been strangely (blessedly) non-chattery since that time. I would feel guilty, but the quiet is too nice. Today I went in and some guy was acting like an ass, trying to get Charlie to buy his crap. He was short money for the month and kept whining: "What are you going to give me? Come on, give me $150!" I wanted to smack him upside the head. I walked outside and his car was next to mine. The whole back of his old Caddy was filled with comic boxes and other stuff.

Newest Fables

Dudes. Hansel is an evil bastard.

 

And what will happen to Kevin Thorne! He's about to get more mixed up in Fabletown than he wants...!

i hate my job

Today is one of those days where it's painfully obvious how working in corporate American is a mindless, soul-sucking thing to do.

 

You try to plan some stupid fucking team-building activity - do something NICE - and people bitch. "It's not good enough!" "So and so got to do this, why can't we?" Except when you don't do anything at all, they bitch about that, too.

 

You know what, people? Go fuck yourselves. Why aren't we doing what Team X did? Hmm, could it be because they have a much larger product on market and budget than we do? POSSIBLY.

 

So people keep telling me to change this fucking activity, which I have been trying to plan "ahead of schedule"...only to have it dragged back behind schedule.

 

I give up. I fucking give up. This team sucks anyway.  

NBC5.com - Education - Suburban Ordinance Criminalizes Cutting School

NBC5.com - Education - Suburban Ordinance Criminalizes Cutting School

Weird. Ok - that was my high school.

Brevity is the Soul of Wit (Ain't Got No Soul)

Intelligent speech & writing should aim at using few words. This proverb comes the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.

 

Yesterday was another excruciating exercise in the development of my Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. Instead of going to Linguistics on time, I camped out on a comfy chair in the reading lounge and took a nap. If I hadn't, last night would have been even uglier.

The second half of Linguistics went fine. It was that damn Community College course that nearly turned me into a raging maniac. More chapter presentations. This is a graduate (or supposed to be) level course. PEOPLE, you need to learn how to present information. I am sorry, but giving out a TEN FUCKING PAGE hand out is EIGHT PAGES TOO MUCH, and then reading it out - word for word - IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! It's called SUMMARIZATION, people! LEARN TO DO IT! No one was paying attention by page three. And then the professor, as he is wont to do, kept interrupting. It took TWO HOURS to get through that. TWO HOURS. I have presented entire books in less than that time in far more challenging graduate courses!

 

When the professor asked if we should keep doing things as we were, I had to bite my tongue. Obviously my opinion is NO, but I was in no condition to be airing my opinion (politely) at that point.

 

And the stupid delivery man here is whistling and being disruptive.

 

I am surrounded by cretins. When I am Supreme Ruler of All and have the ability to vaporize people with the power of my mind and intense gaze, my first task will be to significantly cull the herd.

3 or 4 sec death of guinness

I was finally emailed this! Excitement! This is Popey (first time Steven, I think) - a guy on the same tour I did in Ireland. This was his third try at speed-drinking a Guinness. It's like his throat opened up....behold the majesty.

Sorry, it is sideways.

Grey's Anatomy

I can't help it; I love this show. I missed the first two eps, but saw last night's.

Dude, Sandra Oh OWNS that show. She cracks me up to no end. And that guy playing Alex....raawr. He can be such a complete jerk and then he'll suddenly pull his head out of his butt and it makes him all cuddly.

 

But seriously? Meredith needs to go with Finn. Screw "McDreamy" - he never told you he was married when everything started!

 

And that guy Allison is boinking? Wow. Hot in an evil sort of way. He actually looks like the real life version of Doctor Strange.

 

I am a geek.

Evangelicals Fear the Loss of Their Teenagers - New York Times

Evangelicals Fear the Loss of Their Teenagers - New York Times

Hmmm, maybe it's because you all tend to be freaks, but most importantly HYPOCRITES of the first degree?!

"we're pro life! save them fetuses! now go kill us some heathen iraquis!"

Rule NUMERO UNO: RELIGION AND POLITICS SHOULD NOT MIX. I think the Republicans are starting to feel that bite in the ass...

New York Daily News - Home - Stanley Crouch: Foley circus may wake up elephants

New York Daily News - Home - Stanley Crouch: Foley circus may wake up elephants

It could prove to be the backbreaking straw that wakes up the party's rank-and-file voters to the fact that, despite claims by the elephant leaders that they are the party of virtue, they are, in fact, just as damnably human as the Democrats.

In fact, grosser than damnably human.

Let's Impeach the President

I've been listening to this gem a lot in the past two days given yet more Republican hoopla...Why just the President? Let's impeach half the Senate and Congress too!

 

 

Let’s impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

He’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

Let’s impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones

What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government’s protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

Let’s impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected

Thank god he’s cracking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There’s lot of people looking at big trouble
But of course the president is clean

Thank God

Costuming

My costume is mostly done. I got better shorts (they are actually workout shorts which are very short and close fitting), a magic wand which is glow in the dark (fabuuulous).

I need to find a deep burgundy vest and pocket square if possible. I also need a white stuffed bunny (plush or taxidermied, I don't much care!) to put in my hat!

I thought for about five minutes about switching my fishnet stockings out for a garter belt and thigh high fishnets. Then my upper thighs said "not so much".

Harumph.

Yeah, I'll be at that Bally's powerflex course twice a week for a while now, even though it makes sitting down a bitch.

P.S. Daaaaaaaa Bears!!