Xmas-time

Sunday (today) is my yearly stint as Santa's chauffeur/elf/photographer. My brother always gets the gig as Santa, but I get to watch as the kids get so excited when they see him at their door.

A small group in my hometown finds a few needy families every year to help out at Christmas. There are usually about five families with kids and two or three elderly people to whom we deliver.

Best of all the group does not tell the recipients who is giving them the stuff and they don't get a sermon with their gifts...just a smile. What happens every autumn is that the group contacts a local agency and asks for a few families that have fallen on hard times, maybe because one of the parents has become disabled or they have had some other hardship. They also work with a local funeral director who recommends a family or two.

The women purchase clothes and some toys for the kids. They also pack boxes of groceries for each of the families. Then Santa and I pack up the car and make about seven or eight deliveries in about four or five hours. At each place he has one gift for each of the kids to open and the rest are for Christmas morning. Some parents make arrangements for us to put the gifts on a back porch or in their car so that they can surprise the children on Christmas.

I really love being Santa's helper for the day. And the women like hearing the stories after each visit.

Maybe I'll have a story or two for you when I get back.

Until then go here and listen to this Christmas story.

A-rod contract - no snow cones

The Red Sox say that the trade which would send Alex Rodriguez to Boston is off. The players' union rejected the deal because they say that contracts cannot be reworked unless it benefits the player. I guess if he takes a pay cut to go to a team with a chance of winning a World Series that does not benefit him.

Now if he would have negotiated a deal like Kirk Jones, the Niagara Falls jumper, he would have had no trouble with the union. Jones's contract "stipulates he is entitled to an unlimited supply of shaved-ice snow cones." A-rod needs an agent that could get a sweet deal like that for him.

A defeat for the Bush Administration

Big news: the government cannot hold people indefinately without charges. The only surprise was that one of the judges disagreed.

See:

Bush Overruled on 'Dirty Bomb' Suspect

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - President Bush does not have power to detain American citizen Jose Padilla, the former gang member seized on U.S. soil, as an enemy combatant, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The decision, which ordered that Padilla be released from military custody within 30 days, could force the government to try the "dirty bomb" plot suspect in civilian courts. The White House said the government would seek a stay.

In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Padilla's detention was not authorized by Congress and that Bush could not designate him as an enemy combatant without the authorization.
(read more)

Lyrics du jour

Political Science

No one likes us - I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money - But are they grateful
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us - so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada is too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one to blame us

We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an all American amusement park there
They got surfing too

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us any how
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now




-- Randy Newman

^{Copyright © 1969 January Music Corp.,
a division of A. Schroeder International Ltd. (BMI).}

Dubya: "The world is better off without you Mister Saddam Hussein"

Bush catch-phrases of the day

• He used the term "rape rooms" during his press conference this morning.



• And, he's back to saying "Nuke-U-lar."



• "Lessons of 9/11"



• Apparently the phrase of the day is "solemn duty."

Free phone offer extended

Accept Jesus Christ as Your Savior Before January 1, 2005 and Receive a Free Wireless Phone!

I love that. And this.

They found him...

Saddam -- check.

Weapons of mass destruction -- ummm...no.

Link to 9/11 -- nope.

False premise for starting this war -- absolutely.

So what now? I suppose that Karl Rove is planning the schedule right now. They will keep Saddam in an undisclosed, secure location for a few months, have a show trial next summer, sentence him to death, and hold a public execution in Baghdad a few weeks before next November's election.

Of course I am happy that they captured him. Maybe this will expedite the end of the US occupation, but I doubt it.

So far it has taken us nine months, the lives of 541 coalition troops, 2591 wounded coalition troops, thousands of Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the war, thousands of dead Iraqi soldiers, and the scorn of the world to catch one dictator that was supoosedly a imminent threat to the United States and Europe. Was it worth it? Was it worth it to set a precedent for "preemptive war"?

Well, we will see what happens.

Faith-based prisons?

Where? You guessed it--Florida.

There is no way that this is constitutional. The state of Florida will pay to indoctrinate prisoners in christian beliefs. Have they heard of the establishment clause of the Fisrt Amendment down there in Florida? Apparently not. What if a Muslim group wanted to take over a school district? How would that go over?

The story is below.

Florida first in U.S. to dedicate prison to faith-based program

By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE -- Hard time will soon be hallowed time for nearly 800 Florida inmates who will be given the option of repaying their debt to society in the nation's first prison dedicated entirely to faith-based rehabilitation programs.

Gov. Jeb Bush made the surprise announcement Friday at a White House-sponsored news conference in Tampa that spotlighted President Bush's attempts to give religious organizations a greater role in solving social problems.

"I believe that when people commit violent acts, it is appropriate to enforce the laws and that people should be punished for their actions," Gov. Bush said. "But I also believe that lives can be changed. (read more)

Site of the Day

Bush Sucks

And you thought that you had a bad week...

My friend Stef went home for Thanksgiving break. She works for a retailer that has stores in both towns and usually is scheduled at the other store when she goes home. After a couple years of this arrangement the manager at the college location decided he knew nothing of it and (long story short) she was fired.

While at home with her family Stef came down with the flu.

When she returned to her apartment after Thanksgiving break she found that her door had been kicked in. Gone was most of her DVD collection and all of her liquor collection.

Then, on Wednesday she woke up with conjunctivitis.

Stef, I hope things are going better for you this week.

Site of the Day

Despair, Inc :-(

Words of wisdom...

So there, we have figured it out, go back to bed America, your government has figured out how it all transpired. Go back to bed America, your government is in control again. Here, here's American Gladiators. Watch this, shut up. Go back to bed America, here's American Gladiators. Here's 56 channels of it. Watch these pituitary retards bang their fuckin skulls together and congratulate you on living in the land of freedom. Here you go America, you are free... to do as we tell you.
-- Bill Hicks

Here's a little quiz for you...

Take this Quiz

Let me know how you do.

Free speech zones

I saw this on CBS Evening News last night

View - Real Video 2:49
(excuse the commercial at the beginning)

This story really got me angry. I think this has more to do with politics than security. Why are all of those flag-waving Bush supporters allowed to have signs and line the streets? Because the news will show how much everyone loves the president. Meanwhile dissenters are rounded up and penned in somewhere where nobody will see them.

In 1992 when Poppy Bush visited Penn State they did not allow usin the main area but we were fenced off to the side. At least we were in the same area, not on the other side of campus. Even the guy in the chicken suit was allowed in (Poppy refused to debate Clinton, so the chicken man was following him).

The "free speech zone" is just another example of the Bu$hCo doublespeak--Clear Skies Initiative, Clean Water Act, Preservation of Open Competition and Government Neutrality Towards Government Contractors' Labor Relations on Federal and Federally Funded Construction Projects, No Child Left Behind, etc. And they complained about the Clinton Administration using focus groups. Every Bush appearance is scripted and produced to look good on television.

[Listening to: I Walk the Line - Johnny Cash - Hits (02:41)]

Snow = Bad

[Listening to: Big Fat Woman - Leadbelly - Huddie Ledbetter - Leadbelly (01:21)]

In monkey news...

BBC: monkeys not only think, they think about thinking!

I'm back...

I was at my parents' house all last week. I am happy to be back here sleeping in my own bed and in a cat-free home.

They got a new computer ( I also talked them into broadband) a few months ago and they wanted to network the two computers. I ordered a wireless router and a USB adapter for the old computer so that they could just plug it in and be ready to go. Well, this ten-minute project took me two days due to several factors; I'll spare you the details.

We ended up installing a NIC and running a cable through the floor; this involved drilling, borrowing a drill and a drill bit. Anyhow, they now have two computers connected to the internet.

My sister and her family went away for the whole week so it was just me and my parents. I got her back because her five-year-old has a birthday next week so I got him a drum. That'll show her.

[Listening to: Galaxy 500 - Reverend Horton Heat - Like A Rocket (album) (03:17)]