Sunday, January 29, 2006

Sunday Cartoon

Cindy Sheehan's Disgrace



[Tags: Sheehan, Feinstein, socialism, protest, Chavez,
Democrat]





Cindy Sheehan will soon be an afterthought, sorta like that really spicy Thai food - yes it was quite spicy going down, certainly did cause some gas, and then burned when expelled, but it's over now. Cindy had much more than her fair 15 minutes and by using her son's name and his death, she's stretched it out for over a year. All that is about to crash around her ankles like a prom dress in the back of Daddy's Chevy. Part of me can't wait to see her cry her crocodile tears, another part wants her to suffer like her son would be suffering from her insane behavior since his death, and another part of me pity's her entire existence. She certainly would be better off jumping off a pier, but hey, she should know what's she's doing right?

I've composed my letter to Cindy in a thoughtful way - no name calling, no outrage. I think she certainly can turn herself around if she catches herself in time - I think the time she has left is short. She should start living her life for herself again and honor her sons memory and stop being a tool for fringe left politics. Any time you have Michael Moore on your side, it's time to pack it in and go home.

I certainly like A Western Heart's view of this. Political Yen/Yang has a different take on it, as does Liberal Republican and Conservative Democrat.

What most seem to agree on is that Cindy's about to explode and it's going to be all over the place, in a messy nasty gross vomitus sort of way. It's all too easy really. I've got my popcorn all ready. Screw sweeps week, this is gonna be good.





A letter to Cindy Sheehan

Dear Cindy,

For over a year now I've watched, read and listened to the media coverage you have been garnering with much interest. The latest of which has been your trip to Venezuela and your meeting with Hugo Chavez. The Democratic Party and your supporters have supported you and your cause since your sons unfortunate death fighting in the United States military.

This letter is probably letter number 1,000,000,000 or some such non-sense, and I'm sure you won't even read it personally, but it may sit and never be opened, or if I'm fortunate, it will be opened and read by one of your supporters who's job it is to do such a task.


The pictures of Hugo Chavez and you that were published in the media were very disturbing to say the least. You're wearing your sons picture around your neck at some demonstrations - yet your son is no longer the focus of your position. You claim to work to bring the U.S. military home from an illegal war where the soldiers have no voice of opposition - yet when asked, these troops do not share your view. I might point out neither did your son when he was alive.



I must point out that the actions you are taking only drag your son's memory in the mud of your far left views. You must understand that everything your son stood for and believed in is now overshadowed by your fanaticism. You're being used by the far left to further their own goals. You're hatred for Bush and the current Republican government as well as some of the Democratic representatives that currently serve in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives may or may not be founded yet your actions only further separate you from the people of America.

To be perfectly blunt, I do wish you much success in your future endeavors as it will further define your fringe position from the mainstream of America. While you will always have supporters and believers in your constant rhetoric and accusations and there will always be more targets of your supposed outrage and ire, many American's see you for what you are: A pawn. You're son no longer matters no matter what your crying face may show and what your words may be in the rally's and protests you attend as a speaker. Your success will ultimately identify your lack of common sense and socialistic views. I truly do feel sorry for your loss, yet your outlet of blame and playing the victim of your sons death is unforgivable. You've lost your marriage, your family support, your son and you fill it with people who say they care for you but do not. You're life has become a circus and the public are the patrons in the stands watching and eating popcorn.

Honor your son, honor his memory and stop erasing him from America's memory by your constant protests - by not doing so you further your own selfish goals and serve only yourself. At the very least stop carrying your sons picture like a badge of truth - he has and had nothing to do with who and what you are now. You push his picture in front of you for the cameras like a shield - a testament to your actions. Can you look yourself in the mirror and say you are really doing this for him? Isn't it all about you and the campaign against what you believe are "criminals" in the White House? I urge you to soul search again and re-evaluate your current path before you are made out as a mockery and slowly fade into obscurity. Don't be the butt of comedian jokes and don't let that happen to your son's memory.

I will leave you with the words of your own family:



Being a jackass is an emotional thing



A Sheehan Family letter to Cindy August 2005:

"The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect.

Sincerely,

Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins."



Saturday, January 28, 2006

Where am I politically

I've done my share of on-line political tests - I really like this one. To say I'm suprised is overstated. I know who I am, I know what I believe. But what I also do is question and require facts and evidence. This test says I'm a Centrist. I've also taken tests that show I'm a "Populist", others show me leaning on the Social Liberal side, yet have a foot on the Republican side as well.

A confirmation if nothing else.


You are a

Social Liberal
(60% permissive)

and an...

Economic Moderate
(55% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Centrist




Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Jill Carroll: Update #1



[Tags: Iraq, Abduction, kidnapped, terrorist, News,
Jill Carroll]





Well, it's now been 21 days since the abduction of Jill Carroll by the Revenge Brigade in Iraq. Nothing has been heard from the group and they have made no new demands. However, UPI wrote a piece (I won't say of what) which can be found at this link

Something interesting is the inference (no proof mind you) that the U.S. troops, while looking for terrorists and insurgents, commonly take women from these homes, jail them and abuse them, in hopes to flush out the insurgent men. The Bush haters would believe that in a New York second and nod like a Mets bobble-head in July. I digress...

Thomas Houlahan from UPI states:

" If Jill Carroll is still alive, her captors would do well to assess the situation objectively.

Obviously, killing this reporter -- especially this reporter -- would make no sense from the standpoint of either principle or practicality."


Since when have terrorists assessed killing innocent people objectively? Terrorists make sense? They're PRACTICAL?? In what friggin' way? I guess if you count that they calmly assess how to slit a throat, or practically think about the angle at which they will hold the gun and blow the brains out of another person - I guess Tommy-Boy is correct...

"Right now, the Revenge Brigade, or the Vengeance Brigade, has made its point. Let's face it, the world knows a lot more about the treatment of suspected insurgents, especially female insurgents, than it did last month."

Now we're learning a valuable lesson from the Vengeance Brigade apparently. Terrorists have taught us a very good moral it seems. See, us dumb Westerners obviously know NOTHING about female prisoners (it's because the West apparently doesn't have females you see) prior to them abducting Jill Carroll. Shall we send them a thank you card with some candy maybe? Maybe Tom Houlahan will invite some of them over to a family barbacue and have a good conversation of some grilled peppers and hummus on the value of disembowling innocent people on video tape, and how it teaches the world a lesson.





"If Jill Carroll is killed, it goes without saying that they will lose any hope of ever gaining sympathy for their cause from Americans. They will also be denounced by Muslims worldwide for killing an innocent woman. In short, they will have handed their enemies a huge propaganda victory."

What kind of masochistic garbage is this? They wish to gain sympathy for their cause by killing a defenseless girl. They will be denounced by Muslims for killing an innocent woman - I don't think that's the case at all. The Muslim world didn't denounce anyone when 3000+ innocent women and men were killed on 9/11. As a matter of fact, Muslims around the world danced in the streets, children were given sweets and adults laughed and drank tea while happily grinning about the mass killing.


Actual pictures of Palestinian children during 9/11 attacks


Palestinian woman recieves free sweets and praises Allah during 9/11 attacks


See the difference between the Middle East and the United States?

Really? Muslims will denounce it? And is that all they will be handing over to their enemies - is a propaganda victory? I guess one life in the world really doesn't matter anymore, especially to Thomas Houlahan - she's not a thinking breathing soul who feels and loves and has emotions - no no. She's a "propaganda victory". I'm sure if Jill is still alive and one can only hope one day reads Tom's little turd of an op-ed piece here, she'll thank him for NOT just being a propaganda pawn, but an actual person.

I wish that I could celebrate the death of thousands of Palestinians and laugh, eat and do the jig while their people die horrible deaths - but I can't because my belief isn't to celebrate the death of anyone. These are the people we're fighting. These are the people who hate in the name of Allah. My anger on this blog would jeopardize my soul, so I will stop right here with more on these pictures.

On a suprising note, the Muslim News out of the UK has a piece on Jill Carroll that's much better written and has a much more insightful view of Jill as actually being a flesh and blood person and not just a political pawn. I would urge anyone interested to read this article - it's good.

The Muslim News: Jill Carroll and Arab hypocrisy

Friday, January 27, 2006

Friday Cartoon(s)

Oprah vs. Mexico



[Tags: Oprah, books, fraud, Mexico, alien,
illegal]





It's pretty funny when the media is covering Oprah like it was breaking news and yet most morning shows this AM only had blips on the issues with Mexico and border security. Security will most likely be a hot button in the 2006 and 2008 elections, yet the fake Doubleday published author and Oprah's admonishment of him on televison seems to be the bigger story.

Oprah's getting just as much press as Hamas creating the new Palestine government, which, (to go on a tangent) is akin to John Wayne Gacy being the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Get Cronkite back on TV and have him do some fluff pieces like "How to accentuate the female buttocks" with interviews from the garment district.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Six habits of un... wha?



[Tags: Weblog, blog, Right Wing News, Snob, Politics,
crap]





I've just had an interesting read over at the Right Wing News Blog. It contains a touch of elitism, a pinch of snobbery and a big who cares from moi.


Can you say "dork"? Good!

The post in question, other than being annoying has a big assumption - that everyone with a blog wants to be "big". I couldn't care less if I "never take off". What if I don't want to be different? Not enough content? Sorry dude - I have a life and some of that life is away from the computer. When I pimp myself out and start trying to be like the "big blogs" with tons of content, please, put a .45 to my head and squeeze the trigger? My little blog here won't ever threaten RWN, or KoS of Malkin and you know what - no one really cares. I don't really care much about the RWN either - they have some good posts once in a while but I don't click on their stupid advertisements, I rarely post a comment and I really don't give a squat about getting big in the blogsphere. I don't want mail, (or hate mail) I don't like over the top comments dripping with rhetoric - patooie! Here's a tip for RWN: Get out of the house and do something with your life, loosers. Turn off the monitor and step away from the computer - stop wanking off, get a girlfriend or a second job for crying out loud. Like sucessful blogging is some "superior task"...I'll post what I want, when I want, and as much or little as I want Mr. John Hawkins (whoever the hell you are. What a pompus ass!). I blog for myself - if other people want to read it great - if not, just as great. Geeze, now I have to get lectured about why I suck... nice.




Sucessful bloggers on a rare day out


***UPDATE****

RWN has updated their post with the following:

"*** Update #1 *** Just to clear something up.

A few bloggers in the comments section seemed to be a bit offended by this piece, mainly because they say their goal really isn't to get traffic. Well, they shouldn't be offended, because this is a post aimed at the vast majority of bloggers who want to build an audience. If you're one of the rare breed of bloggers who couldn't care less whether 5 or 5000 people read your blog, then don't sweat it, because this piece isn't meant for you. If you enjoy blogging for therapeutic reasons, to pass the time, for a close circle of friends, etc, etc, have a good time and feel free to completely ignore this post."


This self-effacing blogger wishes to thank RWN for the update. No hard feelings.
Read more at www.rightwingnews.com/a...

Chris Penn: About Karma



[Tags: Chris Penn, Obit, Hollywood, Actor, Dead,
Dead]




Good Karma:

Would have been that Sean Penn would have kicked off instead of brother Chris Penn. Ahh but that dream must stay unanswered.

Tragedy:

Chris Penn died at the age of 40, while his Asshole brother is still sucking down coffin nails because of President Bush.

Though I'm not a believer in Karma, maybe Sean could learn a lifes lesson from this, though I'd doubt it. By all accounts Chris seems to have been the good guy, the nice guy. What a shame.



Chris - we hardly knew ye...

Howard Dean: How lucky are we?



[Tags: Howard Dean, Couric, ABC, DNC, Democrat,
Lie]




Good Morning and Eff you America!

You know, I watched Howard Dean this morning speak briefly with Katie Couric on Good Morning America (Not that I bother usually) but in between my coffee and my morning constitutional I was flipping through the channels and happened hear Katie say Dean was coming on. So I endure some comercials for the interest in hearing if Dean will say something interesting and poignant or something stupid.

While the interview was going on, I had to admit, his words were doing what they were supposed to - tow the party line. He carefully skirted the question about Hillary's use of "Plantation" with the House of Representatives by saying Newt Gingrich said it first (though admittedly, not on MLK day... in Harlem... in a Black Church... on Camera) then made sure he mentioned how if the Dem's got back into power how everyone and everything would be much better. He then mentioned that the Democrats were very strong on Security and Border Control, as well as a national Health Care system (i.e. Social medicine), the War on Terror etc... basically he stole the cheat sheet from Karl Rove and put the left spin on it. He again carefully skirted the poll that showed a majority of the people who were polled and voted would NOT vote for Hillary for President, which he quipped Hillary was more worried about her Senate seat in NY than the Presidency. Then it happened. Dean outright lied.


Jack Nicholson's got nothing on you Howie

It's relatively easy to read Dean's face... he's like an intense horse. Lips quiverying, nervous ticks, droning voice. It's unmistakable. Just looking at him right as he's formulating the outburst to come, anticipating, urgent look on his face, cheeks getting read, eyes widening. I was so flippin' glad he didn't win the Democratic primary in 2004. This guy would have been a disaster of proportions unknown in modern political history. Firstly, I would doubt he'd make it through his first term let alone get in for a second. I can say, Thank God Kerry won the primary and Dean let out that awful "yeaaaaaahhhhhh!" that sunk him quicker than a sponge.

Dean said no Democrat took "one cent from Abrahmoff... not one cent" was the quote, and you know, technically he right. While Abrahmoff didn't directly give the Democrats the money, it went through a third party or into a PAC or other funding organization before it got to the Democrats in question. So, technically Dean is correct - Abrahmoff didn't physically hand them the money in a small manilla envelope while wearing a fedora and trench coat -- however, the source was Abrahmoff.

Using that logic - a TV I buy on 73rd and Lexington off the back of a panel truck from a guy named Mickey, isn't REALLY recieving stolen goods because Mickey didn't steal it... his BROTHER Joey stole it, so ipso-facto, I'm innocent and should be free as a boid. Were it only that simple.


Howz I suppost to know TV's don't cost $10?

Yet, Democrats, Blogs, even the politically savvy little dudette at work tows that mantra - NO DEMOCRAT TOOK ONE CENT FROM ABRAHMOFF! Suddenly everyone's an expert in the law right? Nah, nothing that dramatic - they are just parroting what they hear like a good doobie. The truth is much harder to face, and the true blue Democrats won't give an inch and cannot even admit their shoes are untied if the Republicans can say anything about it. How truly insane. Did Bush divide the country? No, though he was blamed for it. As a matter of fact, Bush is akin to Santa Claus in this country. He's everywhere, all the time, doing bad things every hour of the day, every week of every year since 2000. He knows everything (like that the hijackers of the planes that hit the WTC on 9/11 weren't after him at the Florida grade school). He knew it... dunno how but he did. He knew before he took office that he was going to invade Iraq - he knew that the U.N. and all the Senators and Representatives would back him - he knew how to manipulate documents, secret information, even intelligence from OTHER COUNTRIES. He had an elaborate scheme to pay off informants in Austrialia and England about the infamous Niger "Yellow Cake". He very schrewdly put together Iraq with the terrorists. During the re-election he had a square box on his back where supposedly he was getting direction on what to do during the debates.

Then we understand that it's Cheney, Rumsfeld and Kove who are actually running the White House. Bush is just a pawn for the real evil - which is running this country into Iraq to get the oil, to richen themselves on Halliburton stock, to get kickbacks from defense contractors. To right the wrong that Saddam did to Daddy!

Those believers are very interesting in their contradictions. Bush is stupid - but he's blamed for everything. Cheney and Kove are pulling Bush's strings - yet all indications are Bush makes his own decisions.

So what's the alternative... all I can say is still... thank God it wasn't Dean.


Monday, January 23, 2006

Chavez ruse outed?



[Tags: Chavez, Columbia, dictator, Qaddafi, kidnapping,
politician]




Gateway Pundit has an interesting take on the plee for Chavez to help free Columbian politicans from their Marxist rebel kidnappers.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Sunday Cartoon

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Jill Carroll Iraq Abduction



[Tags: Iraq, Abduction, kidnapped, terrorist, News,
Jill Carroll]







There's a few things with this story that are both disturbing and interesting at the same time. We need not be reminded (I hope) that Daniel Pearl was also a journalist in Iraq, who was also abducted and eventually had his throat cut on tape, which made it's way through the internet and on Al-Jazeera.

Now, we have the lead story on CNN this morning (1/19/2006) which had an exclusive interview with Jill's mother Mary Beth Carroll in which she smiles and very calmly reads a prepared statement, presumably and possibly to the abductors of her daughter in which she states Jill was an "invited and welcome guest" of Iraqi's and who has "worked hard in showing the suffering of the Iraqi's to the world".

Never a lip quiver, not a tear, not a stutter or quaking voice. It was calm, collected and cool as a cucumber. Mary Beth Carroll also asks the abductors to "work with my daughter" on communication on her release. As a matter of fact Mary smiled and laughed about her daughter learning Arabic in Iraq. Mary attests that she is in shock and that falling apart will not help anyone right now, which is a very strong position to take. That "mom" didn't fall apart was surprising. It definitely supports her own admission that she may in fact be in shock.


This was the most serious "mom" looked during this interview.


That she and her mother also spoke about the eventuality of her being kidnapped in Iraq. And also that she "knew what the risks were and knew what she was getting into..." was also interesting.

When asked what Mary would like her captors should know, Mary replied: "That they've picked the wrong person and that her Iraqi friends can attest to that..."

Ok so I'm very sympathetic here, but a few things just make me question, just a little bit, what is happening. I know I have no knowledge or information other than what is currently out in the MSM. I have nothing to base this on at all... other than interpreting what I'm seeing.


Mararet Hassan reacts to being kidnapped.


Typical demand video from Iraq.

Observations:

- Jill is very calm in the 20 second released video.
- Mom is very calm and collected in the CNN exclusive interview
- Very convenient things occurred during this abduction
- Mom admits Jill is very "passionate" about bringing the story of the Iraqi's plight to the world

This is interesting since the current story is, she was kidnapped (probably a stressful situation), her interpreter was killed assumably during the abduction from a "non-descript car" (again a tense situation when seeing someone you know get killed in front of you), while the supposed driver of the car got away and brought the background story to the press. When I compare the other abductions of journalists like Daniel Pearl, there was much more information initially available.

Pearl was arguably a Jew and therefore an enemy of Pakistan. Multiple demands were made for the release of prisoners and the halt of F16's being sold to Israel. Pearl was called a spy.

The only demand associated with Jill Carrolls abduction so far is the release of female prisoners from Guantanamo. This is VERY interesting as both culturally and religiously, Iraqi's care little about their women. Why would they make such a
demand? Women are less valuable then cattle in Iraq - especially to Sunni's. Culturally, women are only important for making babies and doing work. Other than that, little is thought of women in most Muslim countries. Why on earth would these abductors make such a request? Wouldn't they demand other things like America to leave Iraq, or maybe some of their brothers who are jailed, or in retribution for their killed comrades? Even if they were hard up for demands, they could go

back and look up some of Bin Ladens and restate some of them - or maybe something about the voting or new government. But releasing women from Gitmo??

You'd think that all this would make someone just a little upset and tense - yet Jill is one cool cucumber. No furrowed brows, tense lips, wide eyes or usually in these cases we see the captives looking down and away from the camera. Jill's looking straight into it and speaking. She's very comfortable even with armed and face-covered kidnapper’s right next to her during those 20 seconds. While we don't know what she was saying since there was no sound on the video - it doesn't seem to be forced words.

That the Sunni politician Jill was on her way to interview did not show up either lends to some of the credibility of the story - yet something is just a bit fishy in this abduction. Is it possible? Absolutely. Is it plausible? Absolutely. Is it true? I'm sure it happened, I'm just not so sure it happened the way it's being told right now. Is it a hoax? I have nothing to support that stance at this time, yet I'm a little suspicious. Why? Well, all the things I've so far identified - Mom & Jill are very calm and confident. The story is very convenient, and Jill has, by her mother’s words, tried to support and report the plight of the Iraqi people. What better way to show that plight than by getting abducted and getting world wide coverage? Yes, I'm in the "dark side" right now, thinking dark thoughts and looking aimlessly for something other than what we're being shown in the media - is it a stretch? Sure is. But it disturbs me that the usual human condition of being kidnapped, seeing a murder and being held by gun-toting terrorists fazes the captive very little. You've heard the term "people are people no matter where they're from"? Well, Jill seems to be from Mars.

Now I'm the first one to say I'm reaching big time on this - it's just odd. I'm not making an accusation at all - I'm simply observing and interpreting what I've seen today. I am sure I'm wrong - yet were I with the CIA, I would bring up the possibility of this being "staged". If she's killed, as I believe will happen, I will feel bad that I wrote this piece and would even toy with the idea of deleting it - yet, if the Friday 1/20 deadline is extended and she's freed... I will be all the more suspicious and would urge the MSM to investigate further.

Sorry - odd things just don't sit well with me, kinda like eating an entire pepperoni pizza at 1 am - I'll need some tums to get through the night. I'm hoping and praying for Jill and also hoping I won't need tums. If she's really that brave under these circumstances, I'm smitten with admiration.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

iAlbumArt 1.5 = No Fun



[Tags: iPod, Apple, iTunes, iAlbumArt, Music,
Art]



Like about a billion other people - this Christmas I recieved an iPod Nano, which I'm enjoying very much. Now that I'm getting my music under control, I decided to utilize the iPods picture functionality and did some searching on some tools that automatically download the pictures in my playlist or Library.

I came across iAlbumArt 1.5 (mailto:iAlbumArt@ipod-sync.com) and am sadly disappointed. It was $11.95 to get the full license and it did integrate very well, installation was fine on Windows XP, and all seemed smooth - until I had a song that wasn't on the Top 100 of All-Time Rock & Roll charts. Actually iAlbumArt 1.5 got confused easily and over 60% of the time, (when using it to automatically search and insert the album art) it put the wrong album art in.

How it works:
iAlbumArt 1.5 works by using the ID3 tag on the song to look for the Artist Name / Album Name and then does a search into Amazon.com for the album. The obvious problem is that when Amazon.com doesn't have the picture, you're out of luck. But I could have lived with just that being the problem.

Here's an example:

Song 1: The Pretenders / Singles
Song 2: The Fix / Ultimate collection
Song 3: Blake Babies / Rosy Jack World


I search under Song 1; my result: Sound Track to Godzilla

Ok - so I do a multiple search which will pull up just the Artist name, and I get lots of Pretenders albums, but not "Singles". So I pick a generic picture.

I search for Song 2: The initial search came up with Duran Duran / Live from London. Don't even ask me how it came up with this. So I do a multiple search - nothing. It's as if the Fixx (an 80's band) didn't exist.

So I do the last one Song 3: This search provided me with the Soundtrack to the movie Perdition. Perdition was set in the 30's and starred Tom Hanks - the Blake Babies (an 80's Indie band with Juliana Hatfield) WOULDN'T be on that movie soundtrack in a thousand years. So I do a multiple search - It only provides me with Juliana Hatfield CD's - no Blake Babies at all. What DID show up in this search was one picture of "The Pretenders: Singles" (Song 1). So, stupidly, I went back to Song 1 and did another multiple search - nope. The Pretenders: Singles didn't show up... again.

So out of about 250 songs, I have approximately 80 that have the correct album art. The rest I had to MANUALLY go in a delete from iAlbumArt 1.5 and then do a second search for each album, which yielded the 80 correct pictures.

THE PROOF



Here's my search for The Fixx




The initial result of "Duran Duran", how it got that from "The Fix" I don't know




Now I do the multiple search looking for any Album Art - with bad results




I search in Google and find the Album Art immediately. *sigh*





Final Thoughts:

iAlbumArt 1.5 is fine if you only listen to popular music of the past 15 to 20 years. If it's the top albums, top songs, the iAlbumArt will probably work fine 80% of the time and you'll have to search around for the other 20%. If you listen to stuff that's outside of the mainstream or wasn't really that popular - don't even waste your time and money. iAlbumArt will not find the covers of your tunes - not only that, it'll find and insert the WRONG album art, making you waste even more time removing the incorrect pictures.

iAlbumArt (it seems) uses 15 year old technology of "boolean" search through Amazon.com. It's high failure rate shows it's not a very good application. While it did install relatively well with no errors, running it while it searches bogs down my computer (An AMD 64-FX with 2GB RAM, WinXP PRO, Ultra 150 SCSI-3 RAID Array HD's, 6MB Cable connection and an ATI 9800 256MB Vid Card). I exceed the requirements of this program by probably 10x yet is sluggishly moves and when automatically searching for a large amount of music art - it can take up to 2 hours or more to find the WRONG stuff. As I mentioned before, it's $11.95, however, my council is to SAVE YOUR MONEY AND DO NOT BUY THIS PROGRAM.

Follow the iTunes directions and do a Google search for your images. Save them into your "My Pictures" folder or make a folder specificially for your iTunes. The pictures you save should be no bigger than 200x200. Assign the pictures in your iTunes and set your iPod to show the pictures when the songs are played. The pictures will take up some space, so keep that in mind.

I wrote Mike Matheson (the copyright owner on iAlbumArt 1.5) with my findings and disappointment. Hopefully, reading this will save you some time and money and hopefully the Mike or whomever will work on the next iteration will solve the many problems of this software.

Overall iAlbumArt 1.5 gets a:




Sunday Cartoon

How to write a Liberal blog



[Tags: Weblog, blog, blogging, how to, Liberal,
Politics]]







Today's observation instructs those who wish to start a Liberal Blog. It's actually easier than you may think.

Easy Steps to start a Liberal Blog:
1.) Find a free blog site (don't want to pay for this do you?)
2.) Pick a target
3.) Bone up on your vocabulary
4.) Email other Liberal blogs with your blog (links are important!)
5.) Recruit others who are extreme about your opinion
6.) Start writing

Let's take these one by one so I can add some detail.

1.) Find a free blog site
Easy enough - there's many out there. You're on one now, "Blogspot" sponsored by Google. Create an account, pick a format, follow directions. A 12 year old can do this it's so easy.

2.) Pick a target
You'll need something to rail against. Liberal blogs are usually political in scope so the obvious target will be the Republicans. However, you may want to specialize with things like "Congressional Republicans" or maybe "That moron Bush", or maybe even Rove or Cheney. You may also want to consider subjects like "Idiotic Red States", or "The Pentagon" or maybe "Baby Killers - the Military", "Jingoism", "Hypocrisy" etc. You get the idea. By having a broad brush with which to generalize and spread the kool-aide, this will allow you to touch on any and all subjects. A requirement here is to have a picture of a "foil hat", use many different funny quotes or pictures of a distored G.W. Bush, and link to others like Smirking Chimp or Americablog.

3.) Vocabulary is very important - but not the normal vocabulary that one may find in highschool spelling B's. Oh no. We need the Liberal vocabulary. This is key to a successful Liberal blog. Here's a short list sample of words that must be used in each and every article on your blog.

Wingnut
Neo-Con
Enablers (Ex. the enablers in the wingnut Bush administration...)
ignorant (ingnorance)
mumbo-jumbo (Ex. keep them ignorant with that mumbo-jumbo religion...)
King George (referencing G.W. Bush)
Imperialism
cabal (Ex. ...the existing Bush cabal/Administration)
supplication
dramedy (a combination of "drama" and "comedy" used to describe Conservatives)
Orwell (or "Orwellian" - describing Orwells novel "1984" and comparing it to the Bush Administration)
tyranny
harrass (harassment)
warmongers
shoeshine brigade (a descriptor for the G.W. Bush Administration used to demean. You can make up your own "bunny bumpers" "baby killers" etc.)
lies (or any derivative - used at LEAST 5 times in any article regarding Bush, his administration, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Delay, Republican, etc.)
murderers (again, a descriptor for Bush, any Republican administration or any branch of the military or a specific soldier)
moron (any derivative - moronic, morons)
uninformed
civilian clones
propoganda
jingoism (jingoist)
Halliburton
barbaric (descriptor for the military)
jet-jocks (descriptor for the air force)
fascism (or use of facist to describe any Republican or military personnel)
nazi (same as above)
Any of the 7 dirty words (must be used multiple times to show outrage)
bigot (description of any Republican in Washington or conservative Judges)
Der Fuhrer (see King George)
Jesus W. (describing G.W. Bush when he mentions God publically)
monkeyboy (describing G.W. Bush)
henchmen (describing the U.S. military)
Puppet Government (describing the current Iraqi government)
Bu$hCo (describing G.W. Bush & Administration)
Impeachment
torture (or tortured)
Abu Grabe
hubris
This is a short list, many many more are available.



Example of the type of sentences these vocabulary words can make:

It is as if these innocent murdered Afghans had never existed. They matter not a bit in the Greater Empire, just as the dozen people killed in a Yippee Shoot by the F-14 fly-boys in Iraq on January 3 are now consigned to the shadowy hell of non-history.

And this is a short list of descriptors to use when railing against those... Right Wing Bastards.

4.) Email other Liberal blogs

It's important to get linked through other blogs with technocrati or other similiar service so the same stories can be propogated and the sharing of far left principles are conveyed to as large of an audience as possible. It's not necessary that there is accuracy here - let's face it, this isn't journalism. Blogs of this type (both Rightwing and Leftwing) are meant to pull together those of similiar thoughts and to confirm that belief by use "creative descriptors" such as the vocabulary above.

5.) Recruit others...

It's difficult to spread dissent, hate and negative stereotypes multiple times per day - that's why you'll need help! Authorize others to write on your blog so they can help you spread the negative words to those who are also negative. Whatever you do, don't offer original thought or ideas into the mix. The purpose of this blog is to rail against something you hate, in this example, the Conservatives. Introducing new thoughts and ideas show optimisim and that's a no-no. Only negative attacks and criticism should be published to stay within the mainstream Liberal blogging. It's okay to criticize other liberals when they too are showing optimisim or, when you can link them to Republicans.

6.) Start writing

Self explainatory.


So there you have it. By following these simple 6 steps, you too can be one of the rabble of pathetic Liberal blogs that spout the same hate, thoughts and talking points by using the same words and vocabulary. In this way, consistency is held and facts are creatively side-stepped for the sake of removing Republicans from running the government of the United States. That IS the goal after all isn't it? Damn the results of such acts - because after all, the biggest enemy of the Liberal is the educated non kool-aide drinker Moderate. Damn those jingoistic moderates - they spout lies from the Nazi neocons and their facist propoganda from the trough of Monkeyboy and his imperialistic henchmen only further supplicant the lies of lies of lies of warmongering civillian clones! Ignorant Wingnut Bitches!


(wow, I'm getting good at this!)

Friday, January 13, 2006

Friday Cartoon



[Tags: Kennedy, Alito, Cartoon, Hearings]




I can't say more than's already been said about the Alito hearings. Ted that fat puke and Biden/Schumer should try getting some relations at home or write a book together - their pontifications put me to sleep faster than a bad "Phantom of the Opera" rendition. At least seeing Teddy get his ass spanked was almost worth it.



Friday, January 06, 2006

Old Fashioned?



[Tags: Hollywood, Spielberg, Movies, Syriana, Brokeback,
MTV]]




Fuddy-duddy. Old Man. Over the hill.

Not really - I'm only in the mid-30's and I don't think I've reached "old fart status". Yet, I find myself understanding more and rejecting more of "Pop Culture" instead of saying "Yeah, hey that's great!"


Hi - We french kiss each other on film!


For instance, I really have NO want or need to see Brokeback Mountain. Now I like westerns - but the westerns I like have strong characters that either struggle between good and evil or struggle against death (or for life, whichever you like better). I don't want to see gay men in the west with spurs - it's a little to 70's Village People for me. Don't care if DiNiro, Paccino and Nicholson is in it and they ravage Clint Eastwoods rear end - it's not something I want to see no matter how good the acting is or how progressive the story. If I want to watch a western, how about a John Wayne, John Ford or Spagetti western with Eastwood? Or even a modern western like "Young Guns" or "Pale Rider". This poofter western is like watching a D-Day movie with 2 GI's making out on Omaha beach.

Then we get into the sympathetic Muslim movies like Syriana or Munich. We feel the need to have sympathetic enemies in Hollywierd - and we're supposed to swallow this crap? Granted, Spielberg does make some good movies, however no matter how you spin the deaths of innocent people in 1973 and explain the reasons with "tortured souls" such as the terrorists who carried out these killings, doesn't do it. How about a nice sympathetic movie about the Oklahoma Bombings or maybe a "tortured" Unibomber movie?


Help! Muslim terrorist save me from the corrupt oil hungry Americans!


Syriana I will not see unless it's free on television. Movies.com writes:

"What's the Deal? This multiple-plot mosaic is about corruption in the oil industry, right-wing think-tanks that want to squeeze the Middle East into an America-friendly mold, CIA operatives betrayed by their own country, the nurturing of fundamentalist Muslim suicide bombers and a young energy analyst and family man cashing in on the death of his own child. And it feels like someone just dropped a 100-gallon barrel of oil in your lap."

In other words, more liberal propoganda being passed off as "art". While I guess it is freedom of expression it doesn't mean its good. You can only polish a turd so much until it falls apart right? So needless to say, I'll be skipping Clooney's latest piece of garbage. Hey George, how about making another insipid "Oceans 25" movie, this time with Bo Derek as an aged naked wrinkled grandmother who hides the hope diamond in her belly folds? (Oops... I'm sorry, was that a little harsh?)

As I've posted before, I don't get MTV's sweet 16 stuff, the million dollars being spent on decadent spoiled teenagers who have no responsibilities or cares in the world. There's some great lessons there huh? Get your 15 minutes of spoiled freedom - while, who cares if they don't know who General Grant was, or how to solve for X. Partayyy! I think business is outsourcing to other countries for one simple reason - the college gratuate Americans are too stupid to do the jobs. Businesses may feel like they need to get the work into competent hands and today's youth just doesn't seem to cover it. The Leno "Man on the Street" segments just make me cringe.


Say dear... wanna go kill some Jew atheletes?


So does that make me old fashioned? I like strong characters in my movies not limp wristed ones (not that there's anything wrong with that - I just don't necessarily want to watch it). While I sometimes do like "Will and Grace", I find some of the material outside of good taste and the content at times just a little much. A wee bit too "East Village NYC" bohemian open lifestyle. Art is useful, necessary. The creative folks always are a little "weird" and that's usually what makes them good at what they do. But that doesn't mean that I agree or like anything else that they do other than their art. Now, when it comes to Clooney & the Hollyweird ilk, I usually DON'T agree with ANYTHING they have to say, do, like or have opinions on. Some of their movies are ok - but that's about it. These are NOT the people who are models for our children or to young people in any way - they are the direct opposite of what young people should model themselves after. If anything - Old Fashioned, while full of problems and issues in itself, is at least familiar rather than "alien".

Monday, January 02, 2006

Monday Cartoon

Ok - so I'm 5 days early. This one was too good to pass up.

The Problem with Fame




What is it that people need the be famous - even for the "infamous" 15 seconds Warhol was so quoted about? For example, my least favorite Newspaper(the NYT) had an Op-Ed piece today covering something that's so obvious to non-CEO's and nop-executives in business today: They are under paid and over worked when compared to their CEO's and Executive types. CEO's are paid 431:1 a regular worker is paid.

What does a CEO do to get 20 million a year, other than be a mouthpiece for the company, and hire very smart people to guide and strategize. It's difficult for me to be "compassionate and understanding" of someone who makes 20 million and who also, by the way, has an air-tight contract with a golden parachute attached to it; so if they happen to get fired by their board or gets indicted for mis-deeds, these CEO's get millions more, and don't leave out the bonus of a few more million.

Whereas, the workers get a couple hundred bucks and a few days off during the holidays. Yippee. Not only am I in favor of capping these overpaid goons who seem to put more time in at home and the golf course than at the office and who have no appreciable skills other than being born into wealthy families who send them to Ivy League schools, and who are part of that ipso-facto good 'ol CEO network - which is how they got the job in the first place. I digress... yes yes, I remember, the NYT... (sigh)...


They happen to do a little piece on David Brooks, DHB's CEO who is overpaid just like the rest of the CEO's, but who had to flaunt it in front of everyone. Brooks has a birthday with 50 Cent and Aerosmith in attendence, where giftbags had a value of $1,000 each stocked with "digital cameras and video iPods". Brooks can certainly afford it after making 70 million (yes, Seventy Million) in 2004 while only making 525 thousand in 2001 (The Iraq war was good to him since his company DHB makes the bullet proof vests you see).

Anyhoo - Brooks just had to call attention to himself and this shindig that he threw for his daughter that cost millions, instead of flying under the radar and having something nice and expensive, but not over the top and not so in the public eye. This is what is called "stupidity". While not stupid in the "book" sense, Brooks probably is a very intelligent man who knows a lot of, well, something that at least got him a 70 million paycheck - (we'll leave out that it's his family's company and all that for right now).



So he calls attention to himself and the vultures swoop in. The SEC starts investigating him, the newspapers start poking around, and the outcry from the public about such excess for his little tart daughter and the millions he pissed away in debauchery and decadence when he could have done something nice for his daughter and put that money to good use for his fellow man (or at least put it in the bank for the little tarts wedding). Stupid. Book smart but not the common sense God gave a cricket. You see a cricket chirps and calls attention to himself in attracting a mate, but he does so by hiding under rocks and leaves so as not to call attention to himself from other predators. Mr. Brooks needs to take a lesson from the cricket - but he thought his 70 million would automatically be a shield, and it's nothing of the sort. It's actually the smell of blood in the water and the sharks are patrolling.

We see this happen over and over again - excesses because CEO's (Like Enron's who we all know is going to the big-house after he called attention to himself by spending millions on a cocktail party) who just can't seem to keep their heads about them. Most lottery winners are the same way - they blow through their millions in a scant 10 years or less because they have no common sense. Why do the rich go poor? Because they SPEND their money. Why do the wealthy stay wealthy? Because they hide their money and don't spend it. Wealthy people have their money in trusts and NOT in their own names. The richest people in the world have little or no assetts applied to them - why? Because they are huge targets. Let's face it, they have money and everyone wants a piece of them - however - if they have no assetts or money in their name, how do you get to their money? Good question. Especially when it's overseas in accounts only their lawyers and accounts have access to check, but not to withdraw. As long as those lawyers and accountants get their steady paychecks (off the interest no doubt) they will keep their mouths closed. Mr. Brooks should be stripped of all of his money to teach him a lesson - that excess and flaunting his riches will only attract wolves to the party - now what do you think the wolves want for dinner?


He's not as you're drunk as I think you are...

The last part of it is, why we the viewing public, give one squirt about what these idiots do. I'm not just talking about asshats like David H. Brooks of DHB Industries, I'm talking about ALL famous people. What is it about them that we find facinating? I can think of nothing - I really don't care about anyone famous other than maybe people of history who actually DID something. Do I know who was the most famous bar room dancer in the 1800's - nope. How about a famous writer of American poems in the 20th century - not a clue. But everyone sure knows about trailer trash Britiny Spears and her groady bare feet and pregnancy with... that guy, what's his name. E! television exists because people care about these famous people - what they ate, what they said, when they pee and how small of a bowel movement J-Lo had yesterday! Front page news there I'll tell ya. I must say, I do like some of the actors and actressess work in movies and stage - otherwise, I could care less about them personally, their family, their friends, what they ate for dinner and who they dissed in Vogue last month. Who cares? Isn't that their problem? Do they care whether or not I'm going to work today or how teriffic my meal out with my girlfriend was last weekend - then why would I care about them? Yes, the likes of MTV are creating a whole new generation of idiots just like Brooks, who glamorize the decadence and stupidity that is excess by sponsoring and getting ratings for things like "My Super Sweet 16"

The lower under the radar people are, the better - the less I hear about J-Lo the better and if they make millions, fine, I couldn't care less if they ate it and shat it out on their beds and rolled in it (which I'm sure someone has done already, but I don't want to know). We should have a "don't ask don't tell" policy on Hollywood and non-famous people who are famous for some reason (Nicole Ritchie is one that comes to mind. What did she do other than get hooked on drugs and get on a TV show because she's Lionel's daughter - that's a rhetorical question).

So as it goes with Brooks - the sharks are circling and the buzzards are waiting for the leftovers. The SEC is investigating. I'm just all giddy with excitement and waiting for the 70 million to go to the lawyers fees when he get's indicted (hopefully) and learns what the cricket already knows.

I love happy endings... *sniff*