Big Ol' Smitty

But I'm also liberal with my hugs...

I work at a bookstore so I can opine about books all day long. If you want to get in a (smart, sentimental) girl's pants for V-Day, give her this. I Like You is a brilliant, painfully sweet children's book. Probably one of the best things I've read in quite some time.

I second Stephen King's Dark Tower series--a cool mix of horror/western/sci-fi. Start w/ The Gunslinger. Also, anything by Jared Diamond if you're into science/civilization/history/ecology. The 3rd Chimpanzee Guns, Germs, & Steel or his latest, Collapse 'ol boy is pretty brilliant

Pussy. Only time I go to Taco Bell is when I feel like getting a Crispy Strip meal from KFC since our Taco Bell and KFC are one and the same. I'll eventually try it. How large and filling is it though? I had one and a side of beans and I was good to go. And I'm a pretty hearty eater.

BAN PLZ~!

I will henceforth discuss these two issues seperately: On "Gannon": This guy with no journalistic credentials becomes a member of the White House Press Corps, the big leagues for a journalist, with absolutely zero credentials and serves for 2 full years. A couple weeks after starting at the WH, he is given access to classified documents (regarding the identity of outed CIA agent [via douchebag extraordinaire Bob Novak] Valerie Plame) AND allowed to ask blatantly biased questions in RARE Bush press conferences while credible journalists get shut out. He was denied a press pass to the House and Senate because Talon news' relationship w/ GOPUSA.com made it ineligible--yet he still retained his WH Press Corps pass! His access to classified documents and the unabashedly conservative slant of his questions make the possibility that all of this was an accident seem absurd. The "Gannon" incident is particularly disturbing in the light of the recent "payola" incidents: -Armstrong Williams paid $240K to fellate NCLB -Maggie Galagher paid to shill for Bush's marriage policies -DoD investigations into possible payola violations On Jordan: Vyce, you're ignoring the fact these claims about Jordan have yet to be proven. And, again, I would agree that, if he really said what the Congressman said he said (not what the BBC director said he said), then it's outrageous.

I just think that if you believe in something that strongly, then you should be willing to sacrifice something to support it. Lots of other young men are making huge sacrifices over there. During WWII, assloads of young men were signing up left and right because they believed in the cause. Crime is something that happens all the time. Everyone is against crime. Not everyone vehemently supports wars. So yes, I am saying that, if you are a young, healthy man and you strongly believe in a war, then you should sign up to go fight it.

I'll show you horrible poster!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/17/iraq.poll/ 52% say it was not a mistake, according to that poll. Meaning less than half say it was a mistake. And, there is no reason to believe that the number will drop. So, you might want to cite one that actually proves the point he was trying to make. -=Mike Um. No. It says 52% thought it was a mistake. See this page. And have you been studying Cerebus' suggestions? Yup, you're right. Too bad new polls have it down to 49% opposed. And your attempts at humor are insanely shitty. But, so is your posting, so it's consistent. -=Mike

I know that I'll be starting out well over 30K here in KY with my Masters and all.

Wow, you just want to attack everybody, don't you? -=Mike Yeah, cuz that's what I said. All I did was ask a question. See link.

Q for Cerebus (or anyone else who knows): How do India & Pakistan get off scot free w/ nuke development? Are they not party to the treaty? (I guess I could look this up, I just thought you might know)

If Jordan really said what Barney Frank said he did, then I think he should probably resign. At this point, though, it's a case of he said/she said. Going by their pictures alone, I would lean more toward trusting the director of the BBC's (below) interpretation And maybe you're right--maybe these two issues shouldn't be discussed alongside one another. But I do think the "Gannon" incident warrants discussion, especially given the recent rash of "pundit payola" in the Bush administration. How the hell did this guy get a WH press corps pass (4 days after his "Talon News Service" came into existence)? Even if this was an honest mistake, it was obvious by his questions that he was making no attempt at objectivity in his questioning.

Condoleeza Rice, 3/22/04 Washington Post Op-Ed: Richard Clarke, 1/25/01 memo for C. Rice: Notice how he underlined "urgently" in order to get her attention. In the memo, Clarke requested a meeting of a National Security Council committee to discuss tactics for combating Al-Qaeda.

So it's okay to use an alias to obtain a White House press corps pass for a FAUX news organization that served as a proxy for a partisan political operation? Riiiight. And prostitution, for those of you who didn't know, is illegal. The fact that "Gannon" was entangling his homosexual escort service with the US military whilst supporting anti-gay legislation is fucked up and hypocritical to the Nth.

Random.

Edit: Superfluous Ah, what the hell...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/17/iraq.poll/ 52% say it was not a mistake, according to that poll. Meaning less than half say it was a mistake. And, there is no reason to believe that the number will drop. So, you might want to cite one that actually proves the point he was trying to make. -=Mike Um. No. It says 52% thought it was a mistake. See this page. And have you been studying Cerebus' suggestions?

Man, you're just asking for it on that one, aren't you? Oh geez, my dad could bitch for HOURS about the teachers union. Since I actually do belong to the Kansas chapter of the NEA, here's your chance to let a member know what you think. I would like to know your opinion of the unions, RJ. I am going to be a teacher after one more year of grad school.

But don't the union wages from other jobs influence the going market rate for labor in general, which has the effect of driving up the cost of specialized labor? The relationship is indirect, but I still believe its there. Yes. Even non-union workers in unionized industries have higher wages on average.

So I was gonna mention the Jeff Gannon incident. So, this guy with no journalistic credentials is admitted to the White House press corps and routinely softballs Bush & McClellan with conservatively-slanted questions such as And By the way, Reid never said anything about soup lines, that was a quote jokingly attributed to him by RUSH FUCKING LIMBAUGH. So some bloggers did some research into Gannon's background and it turns out he runs some gay military escort sites (some weird military prostitution ring) and posts provocative pictures of himself scantily clothed online. Keep in mind that he wrote lots of "articles" bashing gay marriage and all. He has since stepped down because of "threats".

The director of the BBC spoke about the Jordan incident: Sounds like it was just a case of misunderstanding.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/17/iraq.poll/

The World Bank, a neoliberal organization if there ever was one, disagrees.

Slapnuts!, union membership raises salaries an average of 20% and total compensation by an average of 28%. So your salary (probably) and benefits probably wouldn't even be what they are if the union wasn't there. And I hate that union membership is mandatory at some places, but you have to consider that if one works at a union shop but doesn't join, they are enjoying all the benefits of unionization without carrying their share of the load.