March 2005 Archives

I know Bush speaks greatly about a "culture of life" in his decision to speak in favor of the parents of Terri Schiavo.

Did he have Sun Hudson in mind when he spoke of this culture of life? Sun Hudson was a 6-month old boy that was taken off life support in spite of the objections of his parents under the authority of a law that Bush signed when he was governor. Where were the teaming masses speaking out in support of Sun Hudson's parents? Why isn't anyone but a handful of people criticizing Bush's hypocrisy?

I would like to hear Mr. Bush defend his decision to sign that law. I would like to hear Mr. Santorum, Bill Frist, and others stand up and justify the hospital's decision to take a baby off life support in the midst of their moral outrage over Terri Schiavo.

I know it won't happen. That would require the kind of moral fortitude and clarity you don't see in politics today.

More information:
No Health Care For You

Unknown Number Face Life-Support Decision - FoxNews

No Limits to Hypocrisy In Terri Schiavo Case

Last night when Dana and Alice hooked up finally, I thought my TV was going to overheat and ignite the living room wall.

Yowza!

We're in the process of cleaning up our credit records in the credit bureaus, and it's amazing to me how much information is incorrect, and how many closed accounts are still listed as open. I think it's frustrating that so much of what you can do financially these days is based on what these companies say, BUT the companies that feed them have no real responsibility to make sure that they're keeping your records up to date.

I know that that's been changing lately, and I'm glad, but I can't imagine how this has gone on so long until recent reforms.

I have been reading Wiley Miller's "Non-Sequiter" for a while now, and I imagine that I'm not the only libertarian out there that wonders whether Mr. Miller's keeping his true libertarian leanings under wraps.

But my love of the strips has jumped to a new level with the Ordinary Basil story arc he's been releasing lately. In it, a Professor in a zeppelin takes a young boy, Basil, poor, ordinay Basil on an amazing adventure, revealing to him last week that there's a city floating in the sky, called Helios. An entire city of advanced people who, as this arc is set in Victorian times, built a floating city that no one on the ground knows about.

When Basil asks how this group of people could have achieved so much more, the professor asks "Have you ever noticed how eras are divided into years of warfare, when a war begins and ends, and which nation became the possession of the victor..." continuing "...the history of Helios is the history of mankind's accomplishments, not its self-destruction".

To a libertarian and a Randian, and as a fan of the old Tom Swift books, I find this story vaguely intoxicating and wonderful.

I know that on the internet, Wiley Miller is considered kind of controversial, especially regarding his comments about PVPOnline and Penny Arcade, but I'm going to look past those and focus on these works of his.

It looks like Comcast has gotten the kinks worked out of their DVR for now, as we haven't had it freeze on any TV shows lately. But having the DVR has definitely changed my viewing habits. I'm watching a lot more TV than I used to, because I don't have to fret about when the show was on and trying to catch it then. Now the box catches it for me and I watch my queue of programs later in the evening or on the weekend.

That's why I don't understand why advertisers complain about the rise of DVR. I'm getting more net exposure to commercials because the amount of TV I watch has increased, and some of the time I'm too lazy to fast forward.

Anyway, I just got done watching "The Sketch Show" from Fox, with Kelsey Grammer. I liked it. I watched "Laugh In" and Benny Hill growing up, and it was a lot like that. Nice to see something like that back on TV again.

So I had to bail on a friend this past weekend. I was supposed to go with him and others to a hunting cabin up in the woods. I wanted to go but...

Friday night I had to go pick up my cat at the vet and drop $500 to get my cat back. He was sick and took a week's worth of work to make him better. That's quite a shock to the pocketbook.

When I balanced my responsibilities and what I felt I needed to do with what I wanted to do (go to the cabin) I didn't feel like I could spend my own money on something that I would enjoy. It sucks, and I've felt awful since then, especially from letting my buddy down, ESPECIALLY from letting him down.

You know, I sit down sometimes and I look at my kids and see not only them in their current angelic forms, but I also see them in the future needing braces, needing a car, needing tuition, all the clothes and books and things that they will need, and I stop breathing for a few moments. I don't want to eat dinner anymore just to make sure that they eat enough. I work in a city surrounded by all manner of fabulous foods that I would love to try, and I'm packing Hot Pockets and sandwiches and navel oranges (5 for $1) to ensure that if I see something that my kids need when I'm out, I can buy it. I'm wearing shirts that are full of holes and I haven't bought new underwear in a while (sorry, probably TMI), and the only reason I got contacts was because they're free under my medical plan. I promised myself many years ago I would never buy clothes from Wal-Mart, but now I'm looking at K-Mart and Kohls because it helps me know that I'm saving money for my kids.

I'm sure he's pissed. He has every reason to be pissed. I just wish that I could help him see it from my side.

I keep watching the trailer for Ep. III of Star Wars.

HOT!!!!!! I'm getting vapors just thinking about it.

The longer I am a parent, the less I understand those parents that try to kill their children when they commit suicide.

Maybe they view it as an act of mercy, but my mind cannot grant their acts any creedence. I can't do it. Maybe it's just because I'm having a bad day, but I felt such rage and misery when I read that story.

Is there any dish that Maggi can't save?

Heather let me make Chicken Pulao yesterday. It was good, but it was not what I expected. I'm not sure what I expected, but that wasn't quite it. I guess I was expecting something spicier, but its flavor was very delicate.

We served it with cucumber raita. I wished we'd had naan or chapatis to serve with it, but it was good nonetheless.

I was very enthused that Heather let me make it.

I'm trying to find more information on Pulao's and what their origin is, but I can't find anything online, and my book "The Indian Grocery Store Demystified" doesn't list anything either.

If anyone knows anything, give me a holler.

They fuck you up good yo...

In California, chimpanzees attacked a man, severing his finger AND his balls. That's right, the chimpanzees severed the man's testicles.

Thems some mad chimps.

So I'm watching the events in Lebanon and Syria with great interest, because it seems that, indeed, as Bush predicted, democracy is starting to spread. I think it would be foolish for us to discount our actions in Iraq as influencing the popular uprising in Lebanon.

In addition, Egypt has announced that they will open up local elections to any and all parties for the first time in...forever. That's very cool.

So, despite my doubts, things are beginning to improve. I hope they stay improved, not just for our sakes, but for all people around the world.

My kids broke my glasses on several occassions over the last couple of weeks, and every time it happened, I was able to repair them with some superglue and some cursing, but two days ago they were finally and utterly broke.

So I went to have my eyes checked and be declared completely blind, and I decided that this time I would get fitted for contacts.

Apparently I have to get some specially designed contacts hand-crafted by NASA engineers in some remote location because of my astigmatism (my friends have always maintained I have a skewed way of looking at things), because it'll take a week before they can be made and shipped.

Now here's hoping I can put them in my eye.

Four reasons I went for contacts:

1. I wanted a change. This seems like a good little thing to try. I think it's good to do things that are different, scary, or challenging, and I've been stuck in a rut for a while, so maybe this will be something that will get me started doing some other different things.
2. There's no frames for my kids to grab and break with contacts.
3. Since I've had my glasses off, I've noticed that things are clearer up close because there's no film or grime that I'm viewing through and I like it. Things (up close anyway) are crisper.
4. It would have taken almost a week to get lenses in anyway. I don't know what happened to that whole "glasses in an hour" thing we had 10 years ago, but I couldn't find any providers around here that offered it, so hey, contacts it is.

Damn, is this the most interesting thing I have to talk about today? Yeah, I guess it is. Alright, I'll stop boring you all.

I'm probably inviting trouble, but I downloaded and installed Skype tonight. www.skype.com

Free VoIP across the internet.

Now I just need to get a headset with a mic. Ping me if you want the user name, though if you're really smart, you should be able to find it yourself...