Because Everybody Is Entitled To My Opinion

"O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, . . . in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2).
"Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" (Psalm 85:6)

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Headlines for Wednesday 10-31-2007

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Wiccan Lottery Winner to Open Witch School
You don't want to get an 'F' in Spelling in this school.

Ex-Idol still shocked by success
I didn't know there that many shopping malls to open

Strike threatens Hollywood; reality shows loom
More reality shows is a threat to viewers

Shatner: How come I'm not in new 'Star Trek'?
Producers: There aren't enough curtains in this film for you to chew

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Edwards shifts focus to integrity
He thought he'd give something new a try

Prostitutes sew lips together in protest
The hookers made no comment on the success of their strike

Coach Accused of Exposing Buttocks
Apologizes for his cheeky move and hopes not to set a bad example

Police Catch Burglar With His Pants Down
Says he was inspired by his coach

Baby Giraffe Named in Honor of Red Sox
'Colorado Crusher' is doing well.

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Fiat found with 2 cows, 2 goats squeezed inside
Strangest double date ever seen at Lovers Lane
Technorati tag:  

Where Are We Going and Why Are We In This Handbasket

Want to see me cry and at the same time be so mad I would gladly rip someone's head off? Tell me a story like this one. Toddler Left in Hot Car Dies at Hooters It is a video spot so you need Windows Media Player.

A woman goes to work at Hooters at 10:00 in the morning and forgets she left her 17 month old son in the car. FORGOT HE WAS IN THE CAR! How frickkin' stupid do you have to be to do something like that? Or how little does a child rate in your life that working at Hooters can make you fatally neglect him? An investigation is going on but no charges have been filed as yet.

And this is not the only case like this. Back in August here in Ohio a woman, an assistant principal, left her two year old daughter in her hot SUV while she worked. The child died. The mother was not charged even though she had been captured on film returning to her car, twice, for the donuts she brought for a meeting (pictured here).
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We had a case that was even worse than that here a few years ago. A woman goes to a salon to have her hair done. It is sweltering hot, over 100 degrees, and she leaves her two kids in the car with the windows up. She is gone over seven hours and she comes out to find her kids dead. Then she decides that she is in trouble and claims that she was kidnapped from the scene which prevented her from coming back in time to save her kids. Her lie quickly fell apart and she was charged. When they found the kids, the older boy had held his baby brother as if to comfort him. Both had vomited before dying.

How did we get to this place where womem are increasingly less maternal towards their children to the point that kids have died? And in the two recent cases why has no one held the parents accountable for their fatal neglegence?

Hat Tip GlennSacks.com

Monday, October 29, 2007

The Color for Today is Green

I am not against recycling. I am against the notion that if we fail to recycle we will be hip deep in our own refuse and the world will die because of it. But recycling is a good idea if it helps keep the environment clean and reduces costs and wastes.

The company I work for recycles (more so now than in the past; it was discovered that for a while the cleaning company dumped the "recyclable" paper in with the regular trash). We get these quarterly reports that span our three local sites. This quarter we recycled pounds of trash which resulted in savings of a number of trees, gallons of water, kilowatt hours of electricity, and cubic feet of landfill. The totals;

TrashTreesWaterElectrictyLandfill
14,439122.750,53830,32323.12


So what does this mean? Did somebody, based on our saving call the lumber industry and tell them to hold off cutting down 122.7 trees? Where did the water savings come in? And the electricity? The only on I can see where they might have an actual clue is landfill space but the volume they reported is just a percentage of the total trash recorded. Did they actually measure the volume of the trash before recycling to determine actual savings?

I think that this "report" is some sort of "feel good mechanism" to make people think that they are making an impact on the environment by recycling. A big ego stroke for the enviroweenies to justify their green agenda. I don't believe the numbers. But I am not so narrow minded that I won't listen to anyone who has a good explanation for these numbers and what they represent in the real world. Anyone? Bueller?

Friday, October 26, 2007

Headlines for Friday 10-26-2007

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Iraqis Try to Defuse Tension With Turkey
If tensions continue, will add stuffing and cranberry sauce

Pair Get Hitched at Ohio Haunted House
Couple plan to honeymoon in Ohio Scary Senate

You can have a personal chef
Most people just call her Mom

Ghosts, Vacuums and Other Childhood Terrors
And yet I have never seen a child dress as a Hoover Upright for Halloween

Dumbledore is gay, 'Harry Potter' author reveals
That would explain his expertise in fairy magic

Britney Spears avoids hit-and-run trial
Still has to deal with Hit-and Run marriage consequences

Critics blast 'namby-pamby' obesity ads
Tougher ads in future will ask "Are you so fat that you have your own zip code? Do smaller fatsos orbit you? When you go to a restaurant do they give you an estimate instead of a menu? You could have a weight problem Lardo!"

Winehouse held for drug possession
They tried to make her go to rehab but she said "No No No..."

Wildfires Bring Serious Health Dangers
Being burnt to a crisp being the biggest

Giuliani: I could end illegal immigration in three years
Bold plan requires annexation of Canada and Mexico

That's it for this edition of Headlines. Stay tuned for more headliney goodness!
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UK Couple Lose Foster Child for Not Teaching Gay Is OK

I found out about this over at Stop the ACLU. It seems that a Christian couple will no longer be able to care for foster children.Foster child to be taken away because Christian couple refuse to teach him about homosexuality:
They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 30 vulnerable children. But Vincent and Pauline Matherick will this week have their latest foster son taken away because they have refused to sign new sexual equality regulations.
The authorities took an 11-year-old boy from the couple and removed them from the list of available foster parents. What did they object to?
Earlier this year, Somerset County Council's social services department asked them to sign a contract to implement Labour's new Sexual Orientation Regulations, part of the Equality Act 2006, which make discrimination on the grounds of sexuality illegal.

Officials told the couple that under the regulations they would be required to discuss same-sex relationships with children as young as 11 and tell them that gay partnerships were just as acceptable as heterosexual marriages
The couple are devout Christians who belive as I do that homosexuality is a sin and contrary to the Word of God. The couple prior to this had cared for 28 foster children and were exemplary parents. But because they won't go along with the liberal agenda they have been denied access to foster children. They can't even keep their foster son until they find a permanent home. Officials will remove the child tomorrow and put him in a temporary shelter. There is a severe shortage of foster parents and now those with any kind of religious beliefs are being driven from the program with these types of regulations. The couple will fight this with the help of Christian lawyers.

We are losing the fight Christians! The Gay agenda in the UK is marching boldly on and grinding Christians under it's boots. How did it get to the point where the state requires you teach kids at a young age that gay and lesbian lifestlyes are normal? This couple's objection on religious grounds was brushed aside by the powers that be. We are headed down that same path here in America. You had better speak up now Christian while you still have the right to do so.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #53



Thursday Thirteen #53


13 Things About Dane Bramage
13 Tidbits of Wisdom

The internet is great. Where else can you find priceless gems of wisdom? This week, inspired by Scott who sent me an email, I went out to the vast world wide web and made a half vast effort to cull 13 pearls of wisdom. So here they are for you.

  1. Birthdays are good for you; the more you have the longer you live.

  2. Avoid cutting yourself slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold while you chop.

  3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.

  4. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you will be too afraid to cough.

  5. Everyone should have a spouse, because there are a number of things that go wrong that one can't blame on the government.

  6. The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

  7. There will always be death and taxes; however, death doesn't get worse every year.

  8. God grant me the Senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, The good fortune to run into the ones I do, And the eyesight to tell the difference..

  9. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

  10. When choking on an ice cube, simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat. Presto! The blockage will instantly remove itself.

  11. You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

  12. Some people are like slinkies. Not really good for anything but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

  13. Time may be a great healer, but it's also a rotten beautician.

I can just smell the wisdom oozing from you. If you have a pearl to share leave it in the comments.




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


Saturday, October 20, 2007

San Francisco Considers Allowing You to Shoot Up Dope Without Consquences

Well the liberal agenda marches on. In an effort to mimic other "progressive nations, San Francisco considers opening up an injection room. The Associated Press has this story:
Hoping to reduce San Francisco's high rate of fatal drug overdoses, the public health department co-sponsored a symposium on the only such facility in North America, a four-year-old Vancouver site where an estimated 700 intravenous users a day self-administer narcotics under the supervision of nurses
700 dopers a day go to a public funded medical facility and shoot up dope. That just oozes compassion to me. Let's not get these people to see that they have a problem they need to kick, let's help them not overdose so they can stay addicted. Fortunately there were some raised eyebrows.
Bertha Madras, deputy director of demand reduction for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, called San Francisco's consideration of such a facility "disconcerting" and "poor public policy."

"The underlying philosophy is, 'We accept drug addiction, we accept the state of affairs as acceptable,'" Madras said. "This is a form of giving up."
Poor public policy indeed. The mayor's approval is necessary for any plan of this nature to go forward. The advocates of this lunacy plan to work on him because currently he is not too keen on the idea.
The mayor's spokesman, Nathan Ballard, said Thursday that although he does not want to discourage debate, he "is not inclined to support this program because, quite frankly, it may create more problems than it supposedly addresses."
But agian the liberals look to others as an example. The Vancouver room is described:
The site, exempt from federal drug laws so users can visit without fear of arrest, has 12 private booths where addicts inject drugs such as heroin, cocaine or crystal. They can use equipment and techniques provided by the staff, and then relax with a cup of coffee or get medical attention in the "chill out" room where they are observed, said program coordinator Sarah Evans.

"It looks kind of like a hair salon," Evans said of the bustling space. "If we were a restaurant, we would be making a profit."
Yeah except restaurants don't tell you to bring your own food so they can make sure you don't croak after eating. That and the typical restaurant goer isn't likely to rob your house or mug you for cash for their next fix of food.
While 800 overdoses have occurred on the premises, none resulted in death because of the medical supervision provided at InSite, said Thomas Kerr, a University of British Columbia researcher who has extensively studied the program. His research also has shown an increase in addicts seeking drug treatment and a decrease in abandoned syringes, needle-sharing, drug-related crime and other problems since the clinic opened, he said.
Sounds very counter-intuitive. How do they attribute all of this to the opening of one drug room? Death by overdose is currently on the decline in San Francisco so if the trend continues after they open a drug room will they claim it was because of it? I am always leery of the findings of researchers with such a vested interest. It isn't likely that they would find that opening a drug room has a negative impact when their name is tied to the success.

I really can't get behind a program like this. It promotes all the wrong things and condones drug use. I don't care how many addicts survive their overdoses because of it. Maybe that very fact would encourage them to take larger doses. The State would be right there in case they get into trouble. The whole point of this is not to save junkies. it is to move us closer to legalized drug use in America. There is only one drug room in North America. The other sixty-four are in Europe. Why do the liberals insist on dragging America in the direction of countries we fought to get away from?

Friday, October 19, 2007

No Dominoes Pizza Tonight

Steve over at The Sneeze posted about the ability to order Dominoes pizza online.
Regardless of your feelings about Domino's, the fact that you can order it online without having to talk to a human being is fantastic.

Type a little on your computer and magically a pizza shows up at your door. It's the closest thing we have to Star Trek's food synthesizer. Only it takes about 25 minutes to work. And the food delivery unit at my Domino's has a bad mustache.
I was all set to order a pizza. I went to their site and attempted to register and was told that the store that services my area does not yet accept online orders. I am crushed. I have half a mind to call them up and ask them what their problem is. Why are they so far behind the technology curve?!

Tonight was going to be a Blockbuster night(I rarely go to blockbuster anymore but I still call a night of home movie watching a blockbuster night). Pizza goes great with DVD watching. Alas I guess it was not meant to be.
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Oh BTW I have been ordering Papa Johns Pizza online for two years.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #52



Thursday Thirteen #52


13 Things About Dane Bramage

13 Comic Books That Became Movies

The whole Iron Man movie thing got me to thinking about comics and movies so I decided to make a list of 13 comic book heroes that were made into movies.

  1. Captain America IMDb link This film sucked horribly. The best thing in it was Ronny Cox. They are scheduled to make another one although I understand that in the current comic line Captain America is dead. Go figure.

  2. Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us
  3. Punisher (IMDb Link1 IMDb Link2) Didn't see the 1989 version with Lou Gossett Jr. and Dolph Lungren? Don't worry it went straight to video in this country. Before the release though I snagged a copy of the film released in Japan. It had Japanese subtitles. The 2004 version was high budget but I thought the Punisher was too cruel and sadistic.

  4. Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usImage Hosted by ImageShack.us
  5. Fantastic Four (IMDb Link)Unbeknownst to most there are three Fantastic Four movies. The latest two were great. The first sucked so bad they never intended it to be shown.

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  7. Spiderman (IMDb Link) Marvel finally got it right with a big name hero. Three major successes following a mediocre television series.

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  9. Hulk (IMDb Link) Here we have the opposite. A mediocre (but big CGI budget) movie after a long running successful television show.

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  11. Blade (IMDb Link)I think this really gave Marvel some confidence in the whole comic book to movie idea. Blade was a huge stylish success with two sequels.

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    The Rest of the post is below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"

  13. Daredevil (IMDb Link)One of the few times I enjoyed watching Ben Affleck. I thought the movie was good. Some had a problem with Kingpin being played by Michael Clarke Duncan. Kingpin is a white villain and Michael is a black man. Didn't bother me at all

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  15. Ghost Rider (IMDb Link)While this was not a bad movie, it was not a sensational movie. They took lots of liberties with the comic story but that happens more often than not in comic movies. Still I will own a copy.

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  17. Xmen (IMDb Link)I loved the X-Men of the sixties and I loved the more famoous team of the seventies and eighties. I absolutely loved this movie and the second one. The third was okay I just didn't like the fact that they killed so many heroes.

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  19. Superman (IMDb Link)My all time number one favorite comic movie of all time. I was blown away as a teen watching it in the theater. I loved the second movie too! The third was okay the forth was boring. Then there was Superman Returns and I say "Why?" It was an abomination, a waste of celluloid. I HATED everything about that flick. The makers should be stoned for their sacriledge.

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  21. Batman (IMDb Link)Like the Superman franchise, the Batman franchise was a favorite starting with the first and decreasing with each installment. Micheal Keaton was by far my favorite Batman. But where "Superman Returns" sucked canal water, "Batman Begins" excelled! It was awsome.

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  23. Ultraviolet (IMDb Link)Probabbly would have been better titled "Ultra Violent". It was non-stop fight scenes. All flash and no substance.

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  25. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IMDb Link) I actually had issue #2 of TMNT and people thought I was crazy. Then they were everywhere. That comic would be worth lots of money now. They did live action movies in the eighties plus cartoons. The last film was all CGI.

  26. Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

There are others, some made just for TV some made just for video. There's Aeon Flux, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Electra, Catwoman, Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, Transformers, and Mystery Men to name a few. Name some more in the comments.




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


Wednesday, October 17, 2007

What Do You Mean He's Black?

I noticed in the credits for the upcoming Iron Man Movie that the role of Nick Fury will be played by Samuel L. Jackson. Well old school comic fans like myself remember that Colonel Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a white man. He was a white man when he was Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandoes too. But in the Ultimate Avengers series he is an African American. And this has cause some issues with comic purists. They don't seem to feel it is right to reimagine Nick Fury as an African American. But who to blame? It would be wrong to blame Hollywood because this movie is following a growing trend in the comics industry to PC-ize old minor and supporting heroes. Heroes who were once white males are being replaced by African Americans, Asians and Hispanics. Some are being replaced by women.

I am not quite sure if I approve of this trend. But I haven't followed comics for over a decade. The comic companies claim to be reaching out to minorities. But minorities are not a big part of the comic reading demographic. I suppose that supports the comic companies actions if you believe the lack of minority readership is due to to a lack of minority heroes. But if Bruce Wayne suddenly died and a Hispanic teen stepped in and took up the mantle of Batman, would more Hispanics read it? But that will never happen. They will never change the major players, Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Wonder Woman. So is changing just the minor characters sending the wrong message?

Actually Samuel L. as Fury isn't so bad in my book. The Ulltimate Avengers has had a Black Nick Fury for five or so years now. A neat piece of trivia mentioned on the IMDb site:
In an issue of the Marvel comic Ultimates (the Ultimate version of the Avengers, of which Iron Man is a member) the eponymous superheroes discuss who could play them in a possible movie, and Nick Fury (who is African-American in the Ultimate reality and artistically based on Sam Jackson, bearing a striking resemblance throughout the entirety of the series) says the only actor who could portray him is Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson plays Fury in this film
Still you could always go back and have David Hasselhoff reprise his role as Nick Fury: Agent of Shield (1998)(TV)
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That'll teach ya.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I Am Very Well Unread

Okay I saw this meme over at Starrlight's blog and thought it would be cool to at least attempt it. Afterwards I felt so unread I am a little embarrassed.
The meme rules are:
Bold those you've read.
Italicize books you have started but couldn't finish.
Add an asterisk* to those you have read more than once.
Underline those on your To Be Read list.

Since my style sheet and various formatting don't go well together I thought I would just color code everything.

Anyway here is the legend

Blue Titles are books I have read.
Cyan Titles are books that I started but never finished.
Green Titles are those I plan to read someday maybe when I retire and have extra time or not.
White Titles are those I have heard about or know so much about I don't plan to read the book.


The List:
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: A Novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
The rest are below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid (In Latin)
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers


Some of these I have never heard of before. If you want to participate just copy the list and show us what you read.

Monday, October 15, 2007

It Wouldn't Be So Bad If the Theme Song Wasn't So Dated

Dave's favorite superhero. In theaters May 02, 2008.

Personaly I thought Milestone's/DC's Hardware was much cooler. I would definitely go see a movie about Hardware.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Deep in Thought Today

I was just reminiscing the other day about a very special spiritual episode of a very deep television show. In a highly dramatic turn of events the hero was struck by a taxi. In the hospital he is surrounded by his friends and loved ones all of whom fondly relate their favorite memories of our hero. As he lies there near death he sees a light. Suddenly, a flash of lightning, a clap of thunder and there is a person standing there.


"Who are you?"

"I am the part of you that lives on after you die."

"You're my student loan?"


Ah Herman's Head. What a deep spiritual show. Anyway I was thinking about that because of issues I am having with my student loan. My God I am nearly fifty years old and I am still paying on it! Is there no end in sight? Sheesh. Had I known that it was going to be like this I would have gotten a stupid degree.


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Friday, October 12, 2007

But What Does It Have To Do With Peace?

Some think melting polar ice, rising ocean levels, and scorching temperatures are a man-made nightmare that we will face. A REAL nightmare was waking up and finding out that Al Gore won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the Chicken Little valiant global warming spokesmodel. How does fighting global warming make you eligible for a peace prize? Well in true liberal fashion, you redefine the terms to fit your agenda.
Gore, whose film on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," won an Academy Award earlier this year, had been widely tipped to win Friday's prize, which expanded the Norwegian committee's interpretation of peacemaking and disarmament efforts that have traditionally been the awards foundations.
Once upon a time I really believed the Nobel Prize was a meaningful award, especially when given for peace. But as I grew older and wise to the workings of the world I have come to view it as another political device, despite their claims to the contrary.
The Nobel committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, asserted that the prize was not aimed at the Bush administration, which rejected Kyoto and was widely criticized outside the U.S. for not taking global warming seriously enough.
Yeah so why mention it?
At the time, then committee chairman Gunnar Berge called the prize "a kick in the leg" to the Bush administration for its threats of war against Iraq. In response, some members of the secretive committee criticized Berge for expressing personal views in the panel's name.
To further validate my point, the last American to get the Peace Prize was former President Jimmy Carter. I guess you can't have conservative values and earn a peace prize. But there are others who see this as a political machination.
"Awarding it to Al Gore cannot be seen as anything other than a political statement. Awarding it to the IPCC is well-founded," said Bjorn Lomborg, author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist.He criticized Gore's film as having "some very obvious mistakes, like the argument that we're going to see six meters of sea-level rise," he said.
And yet they gave him 1.5 million dollars for his role in crying wolf internationally. But there are some who at least tried to put it into the context of a peace prize.
Jan Egeland, a Norwegian peace mediator and former senior U.N. official for humanitarian affairs, called climate change more than an environmental issue.

"It is a question of war and peace," said Egeland, now director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo. "We're already seeing the first climate wars, in the Sahel belt of Africa." He said nomads and herders are in conflict with farmers because the changing climate has brought drought and a shortage of fertile lands.
Remember Jan? He is the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, known for calling the U.S. stingy during the tsunami relief effort of 2004. Now he is supporting the committee's decision on Gore because some nomads, herders and farmers are "in conflict" over land during a drought. A drought that is obviously the fault of global warming. Go Al! But where's the peace?

I guess there are a lot of folks hoping Gore would use this award as a springboard into the 2008 Presidential race. Insiders for the Goracle say President of the U.S. isn't big enough for Al now.
If anything, the Peace Prize makes the rough-and-tumble of a presidential race less appealing to Gore, they said, because now he has a huge, international platform to fight global warming and may not want to do anything to diminish it.
I guess you really are somebody if becoming President of the United States would diminish what you are doing.

Personally I think Big Al got an award because the moonbats wanted to honor one of their own and there is no Nobel Prize for Global Warming. Oh there may be one some day but they couldn't wait. They need to strike while the iron is hot for their cause celebre, before common sense and scientific fact cool it off. You know like it did for the causes of homelessness, overpopulation, and the decimation of Africa from AIDS.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #51


Thursday Thirteen #51


13 Things About Dane Bramage

The "I'll take Charley Weaver to block" Edition
13 Questions and Answers from the Old Hollywood Squares Show


Well because I am a total slacker very busy lately I have decided to forward something I got via email. And since it is easier than me actually thinking up something I present this to you:
If you remember the Original Hollywood Squares and its comics, this may bring a tear to your eyes. These great questions and answers are from the days when 'Hollywood Squares' game show responses were spontaneous and clever, not scripted and (often) dull, as they are now. Peter Marshall was the host asking the questions, of course.

  1. Q. Do female frogs croak?
    A. Paul Lynde: If you hold their little heads under water long enough.

  2. Q. If you're going to make a parachute jump, at least how high should you be?
    A. Charley Weaver: Three days of steady drinking should do it.

  3. Q. True or False, a pea can last as long as 5,000 years
    A. George Gobel: Boy, it sure seems that way sometimes.

  4. Q. You've been having trouble going to sleep. Are you probably a man or a woman?
    A. Don Knotts: That's what's been keeping me awake.

  5. Q. According to Cosmopolitan, if you meet a stranger at a party and you think that he is attractive, is it okay to come out and ask him if he's married?
    A. Rose Marie: No, wait until morning.

  6. Q. Which of your five senses tends to diminish as you get older?
    A. Charley Weaver: My sense o f decency.

  7. Q. As you grow older, do you tend to gesture more or less with your hands while talking?
    A. Rose Marie: You ask me one more growing old question Peter, and I'll give you a gesture you'll never forget.

  8. Q. Paul, why do Hell's Angels wear leather?
    A. Paul Lynde: Because chiffon wrinkles too easily.

  9. Q. Charley, you just decided to grow strawberries. Are you going to get any during the first year?
    A. Charley Weaver: Of course not, I'm too busy growing strawberries.

  10. Q. Can boys join the Camp Fire Girls?
    A. Marty Allen: Only after lights out.

  11. Q. When you pat a dog on its head he will wag his tail. What will a goose do?
    A. Paul Lynde: Make him bark?

  12. Q. Back in the old days, when Great Grandpa put horseradish on his head, what was he trying to do?
    A. George Gobel: Get it in his mouth.

  13. Q. Who stays pregnant for a longer period of time, your wife or your elephant?
    A. Paul Lynde: Who told you about my elephant?

I still have about ten left so I'll save them for later!




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Is It Me or Is It Getting Cooler?

Did you know that they are planning to show Al Gore's "Inconvenient Lies Truth" in British schools? Well one person saw it as the political piece of crap that it was and challenged it. The court has ruled that there are 11 Inaccuracies in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.

So if the government wants to show the film they have to amend their Guidance Notes to Teachers to make clear that:
  1. The Film is a political work and promotes only one side of the argument.

  2. If teachers present the Film without making this plain they may be in breach of section 406 of the Education Act 1996 and guilty of political indoctrination.

  3. Eleven inaccuracies have to be specifically drawn to the attention of school children.

Wow. Wouldn't it be great if political indoctrination was illegal in our schools? I have stated (or parroted) that "Global Warming" is nothing more than a liberal political construct. A bogeyman to scare people into listening to liberal policy makers and a club to use on big business in the name of the environment. The Brits now acknowledge that Al Gores shlockumentary is politically motivated and scientifically inaccurate. Here are the 11 areas they have identified (emphasis mine):

  • The film claims that melting snows on Mount Kilimanjaro evidence global warming. The Government's expert was forced to concede that this is not correct.

  • The film suggests that evidence from ice cores proves that rising CO2 causes temperature increases over 650,000 years. The Court found that the film was misleading: over that period the rises in CO2 lagged behind the temperature rises by 800-2000 years.

  • The film uses emotive images of Hurricane Katrina and suggests that this has been caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that it was “not possible” to attribute one-off events to global warming.

  • The film shows the drying up of Lake Chad and claims that this was caused by global warming. The Government's expert had to accept that this was not the case.

  • The film claims that a study showed that polar bears had drowned due to disappearing arctic ice. It turned out that Mr Gore had misread the study. Fact is four polar bears drowned but this was because of a particularly violent storm.

  • The film threatens that global warming could stop the Gulf Stream throwing Europe into an ice age. The Claimant's evidence was that this was a scientific impossibility.

  • The film blames global warming for species losses including coral reef bleaching. The Government could not find any evidence to support this claim.

  • The film suggests that the Greenland ice covering could melt causing sea levels to rise dangerously. The evidence is that Greenland will not melt for millennia.

  • The film suggests that the Antarctic ice covering is melting, the evidence was that it is in fact increasing.

  • The film suggests that sea levels could rise by 7m causing the displacement of millions of people. In fact the evidence is that sea levels are expected to rise by about 40cm over the next hundred years and that there is no such threat of massive migration.

  • The film claims that rising sea levels has caused the evacuation of certain Pacific islands to New Zealand. The Government are unable to substantiate this and the Court observed that this appears to be a false claim

Since this took place in Europe I am sure the Greenies and Gore-lovers will scoff at the court's findings. They will come up with a 101 excuses for the apparent inaccuracies but most importantly they will continue unabated to try to force "Global Warming" legislature down the throats of the rest of us.

Another Christian Murdered by Muslims

Another moment brought to you by the Religion of Peace. Christian activist killed in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A prominent Palestinian Christian activist was found dead on a Gaza City street Sunday, sending a shudder of fear through a tiny Christian community feeling increasingly insecure since the Islamic Hamas seized control last summer

The body of Rami Khader Ayyad, the 32-year-old director of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, bore a visible gunshot wound to the head, and an official at Gaza's Shifa Hospital said he was also stabbed numerous times. Ayyad had been missing since Saturday afternoon.

Ayyad regularly received anonymous death threats from angry people who accused him of missionary work, a rarity among Gaza's Christians. His store, which is associated with a Christian group called the Palestinian Bible Society, was firebombed in April.

Ayyad left two young children and a pregnant wife.

Is there any doubt that there can be no peace with the religion of peace? Mr. Ayyad was one of 3200 Christians living among 1,400,000 Muslims. It was just a matter of time before someone acted out one of the death threats. Can there ever be peaceful co-existence with followers of a faith that is so intolerant and also feels it is an act of spirituality to murder an infidel?

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

GO TRIBE!

The Cleveland Indians closed out the New York Yankees 6-4 in Game 4 of their American League Division Series last night!
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And while I am not a big sports fan I do so love it when the Indians, Cavaliers and the Browns do well. And not to forget the Akron Aeros!

Headlines for Tuesday 10/09/2007

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Purpose of appendix believed found
Many believe it to hold supplementary material stored at the end of a piece of writing

Eat your food, get your money back
Diners preferred this to the "Get your food back" offer

Experts: Brain-Eating Amoeba Doesn't Pose Health Risk
Well not to Democrats anyway

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Pulled over by an F-16
Now thats going really fast

New Prototype Phone Gives Fitness Check
The organ it is most concerned with is your wallet

Wedlock: Cops seize couple that robbed bank to marry
Vows to include "In Sickness and in Jail"

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Customs find beetles stuffed with cocaine
Smoking these roaches would really get you high

Man Jailed for Trying to Pass $1M Bill
He failed to notice the sign that said "We do not accept bills greater than $500000"

Man wins contest with 1,524-lb. pumpkin
Immediately sold shell as wife housing to a Mr. Peter Pumpkin-Eater

Sculptor's crack baffles art world
But most agree it is better than looking at plumber's crack

That's it for Headlines today. Remember to visit the usual suspects for more "headliney goodness"!
basil at basil's blog
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Monday, October 08, 2007

Camera Phone Photos

I took these with my cell phone. Funny I was one of those people who thought that I would never get a camera phone but thanks to the fine folks at Verizon and their "New Every Two" policy I was able to get one this time around. It cost me nothing, (I have had the same cell number for nine years and people think I'm a freak.)

I love my LG 8300 which is also bluetooth capable. Which means the Uconnect in my Dodge Magnum recognizes it every time I get in the car. How come no one told me I've arrived?

Anyway I took this of my bus kids. They are about to learn how it is to be treated like a Hebrew slave. Click on the image to view full size;


Yes; they are going to pull the bus! Oh sure they were little whiners.
"Mr. Bramage I don't want to pull the bus".
"Mr. Bramage I feel sick and can't pull the bus".
"Mr Bramage my momma said never to pull 68 capacity buses"

Little wusses. Couldn't even pull a couple tons. Oh sure, other Bus Captains' kids pulled their buses but not mine. Just wait till they have to build a pyramid Some day!


Well you have to look at the full version of this one to make out the details. Details I am quite amazed the phone picked up. As I was going into church that morning I noticed this chopper fly over to the high tension wires in the middle of the church property. Some guy who was standing on the runner the whole time fiddled with something up there while the chopper hovered next to the pole. It was quite amazing.

So
Now I am glad I got the camera phone. I always have a camera with me. Now if only I remember that. I had celebrities walk past me at Origins and Gen Con and then I remembered I had a camera phone. Yeesh.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #50



Thursday Thirteen #50


13 Things About Dane Bramage

13 Tortures for Women Whom I've Dated Because I'm NOT Bitter


Once upon a time, say fourteen and a half months ago I did my second Thursday Thirteen which was A List of 13 Lists of 13 Things in honor of the fact that that particular Thursday Thirteen was on the 13th of July. I had not planned to do most of the lists on that list but looking back I thought that some of them would actually make good lists. Well in keeping with the dark mood I have had of late and an inability to let go of the past, I have decided to do my torture list. These tortures are the results of real life dating situations. Oh sure the 13 Women Who Could Walk Barefoot Over My Face list would have been much more enjoyable but this list has to be done. Now I realize that most of the readers of Thursday Thirteen are women. So let me just say up front that I am not purposely trying to antagonize you. But if you find yourself listed as an offender then the corresponding torture is for you. Now these tortures are not the result of a single woman but from several whom I dated over the last seven years. Enjoy.

  1. Endless Date Torture I can't recall all of the times when I was told, "Oh this will just be an hour". Well the torture has the woman sitting through a boring situation for an hour. Only the clock runs slow, like 10 minutes for every 1 minute the clock shows.

  2. Does This Make Me Look Fat Torture Why do women even ask men this question? The torture is that the woman has a rack of her favorite designer fashions but all the mirrors are carnival funhouse mirrors which add a lot of extra junk in the trunk. (as if some women needed it). For double fun tell her to just try on clothes for an hour and add the Endless Date Torture.

  3. Drop Everything Torture Some women are so needy. I had tried to do things either for work, or family only to have the phone ring. Then I had to drop everything to deal with the situation. Well this torture has the woman fitted with a cell phone that vibrates so hard her teeth rattle. Then she is given a simple task of stacking fragile objects and carrying them from on table to another. Only half way through the phone rings forcing her to drop everything and eventually start over. I know it is cruel but she only has to do it for, say an hour?(snicker)

  4. Read My Mind Torture "You should have known that I wanted you to be there!" That was an actual quote from an ex-girlfriend. This torture has robots arm with little titanium clue bats bopping the woman on the head. To stop it the woman need only telepathically project her desire for the robots to cease. The torture continues until the robot successfully reads her mind or for an hour. Man am I evil!

  5. Peacock on Display Torture I have never been ashamed of any woman I dated. I have never dated an ugly woman. At the same time I have never grabbed a woman and dragged her to all of my friends houses to show her off. This torture has the woman standing in a display window being introduced to everyone who passes by. Again only for an hour. Hehe.

  6. Do What I Want Not What I Say Torture I had a woman tell me to do one thing but she actually wanted me to do something completely different. Then she was mad at me for doing what she told me to do. This torture is simple. Pop-up heads bark out an order. As soon as the woman does what she is told she is given an electric jolt. This continues until she figures out what the pop-up head really wants or for, well, you know.

  7. Previous Ex Torture Despite what you may gather from this list not all my relationships ended badly. I am on friendly terms with many of my ex-girl friends. And that causes all kinds of trouble if I run across them with while out with the current girlfriend. Apparently I must not be over them if I don't immediately denounce them for the wicked harpy the are. This torture simply has robots dressed up as the woman's ex-boyfriends. They are all put in a room and move around randomly. Every time the woman makes contact with an ex, she gets an electrical shock.


  8. The rest of the tortures are below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"

  9. Critical Diner Torture One woman no matter where I took her to eat would order something off the menu and then proceed to alter every aspect of the item. And she would change her mind between the time she ordered and the time the food was brought. The torture here is for the woman to work as a food server. She gets bopped with a clue bat every time she gets an order wrong.

  10. Eat off my Plate Torture If something looks good then order it. Don't order something different and then expect to eat my food. I am amazed at how many women think this is some cutesy couple thing. Ewww! The torture has the woman sitting at a table with an empty plate. A 12 armed robot sits across from her with a plate full of food, six knives and six forks. The woman need only feed herself from the robot's plate while avoiding the super speed knives and forks.

  11. Tickle Me Torture I am ticklish. I hate being tickled. So why would you continue to do it after the first time I told you to stop? In this torture the woman is... oh to heck with it. She gets repeatedly tazed. I REALLY hate being tickled.

  12. Snarky Email Torture I related a story to my date once. She took offense at something but didn't say anything. Then She flooded my inbox with snarky emails and ads for dating services. In this torture the woman is sitting a t a desk with a computer. She gets 1,000,000 pieces of spam and has to listen to the most obnoxious email arrival announcement ever created.

  13. Always A Bridesmaid Torture How many weddings can a couple attend? One woman took me to weddings where even she didn't know the couple. The torture has the woman dressed as a bridesmaid and goes through ceremony after ceremony after ceremony. It ends when she finally catches the bouquet. Did I mention that her hands and feet are tied? (I really should come up with a torture for woman who I have dated and after years of silence, they have gone out of their way to get word to me that they are now married)

  14. Never On Time Torture Many women talk longer to get ready than they said they would. Not a biggie. But how does a woman pick special events to attend that never start on time? An then the additional problem of it dragging on past the ending time. Admittedly this is an ethno-cultural phenomenon to which my brothers can attest. Anyway the torture is that the woman has to sit in her seat through an event but every ten minutes an announcement is made that they are waiting for another person to arrive and the show will be delayed ten minutes. Keep in mind we are using the Endless Date Torture clock.

I know many of you are thinking, "Wow Dane, no wonder your still single." And one day there will be a special torture for you. But until then I hope you have enjoyed this peek into the dark side of my psyche. I don't sit around all day dreaming up tortures for people but these have been sitting in the back of my head waiting to see daylight. I feel so much better now!




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Headlines for Wednesday 10-3-07

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Study finds human-robot attachment
For an extra $50 study will find an attachment that vibrates

Asteroid Named for `Star Trek' Actor Takei
Sulu hopes his 'roid will probe Uranus

10,000 Wildebeest Die in Mass Drowning
Kenya announces surplus of 1 million cans of wildebeest soup
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Woman gives birth to own grandchildren
Kentucky woman and her husband/father/uncle plan to take kids home soon.

Naked Man Holds Up Mini Mart
Suspect fled in shame when clerk was unimpressed with his weapon

Rice drops by Harlem school, encourages students to excel
The Secretary of State immediately came under attack by Jesse Jackson who accused her of acting black
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Sheriff offers to marry fugitives
Worried county officials urge lonely sheriff to date people other than fugitives

Philippine Officials Find 'Spider' Mail
With eight legs it is hoped new service will be faster than snail mail

Jimmy Carter Faces Down Darfur Officials
So he grows a spine 28 years too late
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Driven People May Avoid Alzheimer's
Miss Daisy is fine but poor old Hoke can't remember who she is


That's it for Headlines today. Remember to visit the usual suspects for more "headliney goodness"!
basil at basil's blog
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