Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily
briefing. He concludes by saying: “Yesterday, 3
Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident.”
“OH NO!” President Bush exclaims. “That’s terrible!”
His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion,
nervously watching as the president sits, head in
hands. Finally, the President looks up and asks …
“How many is a Brazillion?”
So you voted for Bush because “he won’t raise taxes”. So far this has been true. He’s lowered lots of taxes for the extremely rich and hasn’t raised taxes on the middle class. However, he’s spending like a drunk sailer on leave. $200 billion in Iraq and growing, $100 billion for disaster relief and growing with no end in sight. None of this money was in the budget. Not a single penny. So where do you think it’s coming from? We borrow it. From who? China mostly these days. How much interest do you think we pay a year on $7 trillion each year? Well, my friend, about $385 billion. And we’re not paying on the principle.
Currently our national debt sits at about $7.9 trillion and it grows at a rate of about $45,000 per second.
You can bitch and moan all you want about Clinton and the hummers he got in the Oval Office, but at least he was doing something about it. Some of my friends joke that Clinton was the best Republican President the US ever had and, to some extent, I agree. Sure he was for gun control, but he balanced the budget and managed to actually pay on the principle of the national debt. He also scaled back the military and oversaw one of the largest economic booms in US history.
If that doesn’t warrant the occasional hummer from an intern I don’t know what does.
The guys came and installed the Corian countertops and they look amazing. I have to do some touch up on the paint where they scratched it up while putting in the new counters, but not a big deal. Tomorrow the plumbing will be put in and then the kitchen is officially done (except for some can lighting that I plan on putting in and painting the ceiling).
Okay, I know there are a lot of people that find pornography offensive. It shines a bright light on some of the most taboo subjects known to man, which makes some people uncomfortable. It’s such a huge problem, evidently, that the FBI is paying agents to search for “deviant Internet porn”.
Where does one start with this lunacy? What constitutes “deviant” porn? The reason this is so strange is because the FBI is, for the first time, going after not just kiddie porn, but porn showing two consenting adults. Even worse is that the FBI and the US Attorney General considers this to be a top priority.
Don’t get me wrong. We should be busting people who view and peddle child pornography, but haven’t we got better things for FBI agents to worry about? For example, finding out where the hell is Osama bin Laden?
Holy shit …
I’m waiting at the airport for my plane to board and my liver is officially on strike. This last week in Michigan was a total success! I started the week out celebrating Marnie’s wedding, which went well and I hope nothing but the best for them.
Tuesday and the first half of Wednesday was spent in N. Michigan visiting my mom and dad, which went well. My dad is still getting used to his new job and it seems to be going well. My mom made “chicken zigafoos” for dinner, which was great. I forget how much homemade mash potatoes make me feel better. Mmmmmm ….
I spent Wednesday night out with Josh and happened upon a few fraternity brothers of mine. Thursday Josh and I went out. Friday I went out with my brothers and then Saturday I went out with my fraternity brothers … again. Rough.
Overall, the trip home was a total success. I saw old friends, family and met a few new friends. I’m definitely looking forward to getting home though. I plan on hitting up the Seahawk’s game with Brad when I get back. I’ll post more after I’ve slept some.
Q: What is Bush’s position on Roe vs. Wade?
A: He really doesn’t care how people get out of New Orleans.
Thanks to Cameron.
George W. Bush has done the unthinkable. The world listened with great interest today as Bush actually took responsibility for something. Many experts believe it’s the first time in his life Bush has taken responsibility for an error.
To the extent the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility.
Was I the only one who went slightly cross-eyed after reading that? I had to read it two or three times and double check to make sure I wasn’t reading The Onion.
I went with Lauren, Brad, Heather, Nathan and Brandon to a local fundraising event for
Senator Cantwell which featured short talks by Seattle’s Mayor Nickels as well as the Democratic pundit, James Carville.
After we had paid our $35(USD) entrance fee we got something to drink and hit up the buffet line. A little while later Ron Sims did a few thank you’s and introductions. Mayor Nickels got up and talked about how Seattle was all Democrat all the time and the various initiatives throughout the city, one of which is an initiative to sign all of the major US cities on to the Kyoto Protocol, which Bush refused to sign. 178 cities and counting have given Bush the collective bird on that front, which I commend. As one of the movers who helped me move said to me regarding Bush’s refusal to the Kyoto Protocol, “Who the hell doesn’t want clean water and clean air?”
Up next was James Carville, who spoke for about ten minutes about what was going on in the country and how power didn’t need another puppet in D.C. Probably the funniest part, which is sad at the same time, is when he talked about what the country has lost since Bush and his cronies have entered the White House. Here is a short list from my somewhat fuzzy memory.
The most poignant point he made about us losing the respect of the entire world is that when the Bay of Pigs thing was going on in the early 60’s a US diplomat went to brief France’s President at the time, Charles de Gaulle. The US diplomat was shuffling through his briefcase when de Gaulle asked him what he was doing. The diplomat said he was getting the photographic proof that would show de Gaulle the nuclear missiles and unequivocally prove the US’s point. de Gaulle said, “Don’t be absurd. I have the word of the President of the United States.”
What foreign dignitary in their right mind would even believe the photographs we send these days?
Love him or hate him, Lance Armstrong has bigger balls than just about anyone else on the planet – and he’s only got one. He has vehemently denied allegations by a French paper that he used a banned substance, called EPO, during his first Tour win. Lance, for good reason I think, has problems with tests being ran on seven year old urine samples. Who was in charge of keeping them? Who administered the tests? Personally, I think the French are just really bad losers, which is surprising since they’re so good at losing (WWI and WWII come to mind). The strongest evidence that Lance doesn’t and hasn’t been doping comes from his actions.
… Armstrong had proposed before the Tour that all of his urine samples be kept for tests over the next 10 years.
Why would he suggest that? He can’t possibly be so arrogant that he thinks he can dope and keep the urine samples for 10 years of testing. The best part is that Lance is now considering another spin at the Tour because he thinks it’s the best way to anger the French.
You see what I’m saying? His answer to doping allegations is to get tested and to keep samples for ten years while he’s kicking the French’s collective asses for an eighth win in a row. Huge balls, Lance. How you ride a bike with them is a feat in its own right.
The situation is quickly deteriorating down in New Orleans from the sound of it. FEMA has had to suspend some rescue operations because of looters and being shot at, while one of the hospitals has stopped taking evacuating patients because of sniper fire. Are the people of New Orleans a bunch of fucking retards?! I read today that the first thing people started looting were guns. I can’t say for sure if I blame them either. I’d want to be armed to the teeth with the animals that appear to be running around down there.
As a geek I wonder about how much data was lost. I know I don’t have a contingency plan for the chance my data center would be drowned in 20 feet of water. I’d imagine we’re talking about petabytes of data. Casinos have lost all sorts of information on customers. Courts, police and other public services have lost hundreds of thousands of documents. It’s staggering when you think about it.
Of course, if you have any money to spare, you should donate to the relief effort.