In the Middle of a Life or Death Struggle

…with a Christmas Tree entirely too boffo for his stand, I hear…

‘Cause the man from Mars
Stopped eatin’ cars
And eatin’ bars
And now he only eats guitars

…and stop dead in my tracks. Wondering, as I have for the past 20 some-odd years, just what the Sam hell that means.

Stories

…like no one should ever have.
Joe, 93, and Angelina, 86, still remember three of their son’s first words:

“Air raid, Mommy!”

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Speaking of Corporate Fascists

…a little ray of sunshine in a report on coffee litigation.

Her attorney said the grounds for appeal are strong in several areas.

(Well, of course they are.)

Amazing How Threats Come Into Play

…right after the race card.

Huffman said she had “heard through the vine” that warring Crips and Bloods gangs have offered a permanent truce if it would save Williams.
“The flip side of that, if we don’t save Stanley, is fearful,” Huffman said.

Oh, you’re a big help making his case, Ms. Huffman. STFU, already.

Well

…that pretty much ruins it for me.

“Traditionally mistletoe was considered to be the semen of the gods and of the forest, because the berries contain a liquid that looks like and has the texture of semen,” he said.
“This is the real reason we kiss under it at Christmas, this and because mistletoe blooms in the dark womb of wintertime.”

When What to My Wondering Eyes Should Appear?

A CITGO mini-mart employee who says “Stick it in your ear.”
Yup. That’s how I feel. Went to bed last night, gas is $1.95 gal. Go to the Post Office two hours ago, it’s jumped to $2.02. No worries. I’ll fill up the Commando Wagon post Postal visit. 15 minutes later, I pull up to said CITGO and it’s now $2.11. Incensed, I drive to the next one and the next one. They’re all the same. THE SAME. All in the space of 15 minutes. Does a special jingle go off, alerting them to call headquarters? A massive pas de deux of price hikes and mini-mart counter clerks ~ a corps de ballet holding the phone in one hand, number changer wand in the other ~ “THREE, TWO, ONE…GO!” And with a collective whoosh, gas has gone up sixteen cents in less than twenty-four hours. “BHUUWAhahahahahaha!” Snap goes the collapsible wand as they strut jauntily back to their lairs; those impenetrable counter bastions enclosed by bedizened berms of scratch-off lottery tickets, towers of ribbed fuchsia condoms and corn nuts, with Camels in the collectible tins for armor plating. So smug in their moment of superiority, they feel free to see immediately to the next Shell shocked victim at the register; tossing off a “you wanna receipt” without waiting for the answer…without so much as a “have a nice day” or “thanks“. Oh, you GOT damned right, I wanna receipt. I want it.
Or I will talk like a pirate. And pay at the pump.
UPDATE:

Oil prices fell Wednesday as fresh government data showed supplies of oil, gasoline and heating oil rose last week.
Light sweet crude for January delivery fell 64 cents to $59.30 a barrel in midday trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Heating oil futures fell by 2.2 cents to $1.75 a gallon while gasoline fell less than a cent to $1.5765 a gallon.

I guess the CITGO drones didn’t get the message. Bastards.

Heroin: A Canadian Right

There is so much wrong in this article:

Health authorities in Canada’s westernmost province want to make the country’s first test facility for heroin injection permanent and are considering opening additional clinics to meet the huge demand. The Vancouver facility was set up in 2003, against US opposition, as a three-year experiment exempt from Canadian drug laws….
…Addicts bring in drugs purchased illegally on the street, and self-inject them under medical supervision. There are onsite emergency services in case of overdose and staff nurses and counselors to provide health care and referrals to rehabilitation facilities.

Now, here’s a shock: they’re doing a booming business. You know, if I opened up a bar that only catered to kids under 21, because, you know, they need a place where they can safely get plastered, I bet you I’d do a bang-up business as well.

The United States also opposes a new experiment in Vancouver to give addicts free prescription heroin in hopes of reducing property crimes to feed their habit.

Sounds like a brilliant plan to me. I’d like to extend it further: let’s simply drug all criminals, all the time. Let them stumble and bumble about in La-La Land. For the Government to supply heroin to every person convicted of any crime in the US would surely be cheaper thaan the costs of the prison system. Hell, let’s shift all farm subsidies to opium production. As a bonus, think of all the great poetry that would be written by these modern-day Byrons!

Ironically, the success of Vancouvers supervised heroin use site led to another controversy this month, as Vancouver police launched a crackdown on public drug use. For years police have turned a blind eye in some areas to thousands of addicts shooting up on sidewalks, streets and in public buildings such as libraries, and leaving behind used syringes. Police now say because addicts can use the supervised facility, they will be stopped from injecting in public. “The police recognize drug addiction as a health issue… but police must step in when the addicts’ activities interfere with other people’s lives,” police said in a statement. “Children should be able to use (park playground) swings and not have to worry about pricking themselves with needles buried in the sand,” said police Inspector Bob Rolls.

Which is why we need to make those kids addicts too!

Advocates for drug users protested that the police crackdown is cruel because the clinic can only serve a minority of drug users. “It’s just a really destructive thing,” said Ann Livingston of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. She notes that the supervised site can handle just 800 of 15,000 heroin injections daily, and staff are prohibited from physically injecting addicts or letting other addicts inject incapacitated users.

Yes, it’s so cruel. Perhaps if we got the Police addicted they’d be more sympathetic…

There’s also no place for addicts who smoke cocaine, said Livingston.

That’s the last straw! Rise up, oppressed users! And what about those who snort cocaine? Where are there government-supplied mirrors and clean razors, hmmm?
No wonder they call it The Great White North…
I need a drink.

I Sent This to a Bunch of You Yesterday

But, if you didn’t get it, I have figured out how to load it to my website without blowing IT up, WHILST utilizing Ebola’s ‘puter and not blowing IT up.
All is right with the world. This is very cheerful and you need speakers.

Mr. “I-Found-Titanic-First”…

is awfully cranky when someone else goes swimming around his ship:

Explorer Robert Ballard found the bulk of the wreck in 1985, at a depth of 13,000 feet and about 380 miles southeast of Newfoundland. Ballard was not impressed with the expedition’s find.
“They found a fragment, big deal,” Ballard said. “Am I surprised? No. When you go down there, there’s stuff all over the place. It hit an iceberg and it sank. Get over it.”

Cat fight!

BREAKING NEWS

JUDGE TOSSES OUT TOM DELAY CONSPIRACY CHARGES

Headline on Drudge. That’s gonna piss somebody off. More to come.

A judge dismissed the conspiracy charges Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay but refused to throw out the money-laundering charges, dashing his hopes for now of reclaiming his post as House majority leader.

The AP Headline reads it differently ~ Judges Upholds Some Charges Against DeLay

What I Want for Christmas

…as I know Bingley, Tim and other hard core Labradork folks will.

Marley & Me : Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog
Oh, okay. Dog folks everywhere will find this well nigh irresistible…

Fancy Pop Gun Cancelled

Via Bill.
I guess they realized it wasn’t worth spending billions (more) on a gun that won’t stop a bad guy with one round.
UPDATE: Here is a great article on the whole process, on pages 26-29

Coffee Is Health Food!

I always knew it:

Coffee and tea may reduce the risk of serious liver damage in people who drink alcohol too much, are overweight, or have too much iron in the blood, researchers reported on Sunday.

Woohoo!!!!

I Ain’t Buyin’ It

Twelve months in a year and not ONE picture of my favorite Bush. Pffft.

A Reading Assignment

…for the desk jockeys who came up with the new “Rules of Engagement“.

It’s all about how the Marines fared the last time someone had them fight a kinder, gentler, “what’s the world gonna think?” war. And the Marine Corps gave him unfettered access to whoever and whatever he needed.
It’s a magnificent book. And a heart breaker.

Mahna-Mahna

Featuring Two Snowths.

What Are They Supposed to Use?

Harsh language? Let’s just make it even tougher on the kids in Iraq, why don’t we?

While American civilians and politicians debate when and whether to withdraw troops from Iraq, the buzz among some military lawyers has been a recent Pentagon rule change that they say potentially limits service members’ ability to defend themselves.
In June, the Pentagon changed its Standing Rules of Engagement to allow commanders to limit individual self-defense by members of their unit. Interpreted for me by two Army judge advocate general officers (JAGs), this essentially means that soldiers and Marines may not have the individual prerogative to fire upon an enemy when they are faced with an imminent threat of death or serious injury. That belongs only to commanders, who may not be present to make a decision every time a soldier or Marine faces a deadly threat.

Whose side are we on anyway? And why, if this happened in June, are we just hearing about it?

Sunday Snippets

John Saunders gave a moving, emotional tribute to the Army-Navy game, and why he watches every year, on the Sports Reporters. Wow.
Then:

For Environmental Balance, Pick Up a Rifle

UPDATE: On the Wikipedia story, a ‘whoops’.

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SNOW!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful, gorgeous thing to wake up to this morning!!!

Christmas at the Bingley’s

He has a good time, or so they tell him.

Operation Twelv Fourteen Marines of Christmas

UPDATE: DaveE asked me about it and I just filled out seven of them, soooo…to save you all time, THIS is the customs form you’ll need for packages. And use those Flat Rate Priority Mail Boxes. They just saved me a fortune. Again.
You guys ROCK!! Thanks again to Susanna for the Flat Rate Priority Mail Box. $7.70 no matter what and for all you can stuff in it. In my case, that was 14 pounds at the Post Office a minute ago! Wowsahs! If you’ve adopted one (or two or THREE!!) of our Leathernecks, thank you so, SO much. I’ve really enjoyed hearing from you all ~ like GALA, Suzette, Wonderkraut, DaveE, on and on!! We can never express our gratitude in sufficient terms for your generosity of spirit and warmth of character. We have such deelightful Swillers, we really do.

If you find you have a couple extra minutes and a couple extra Christmas cards and need a couple names, well, send me an email, lol!
If you’re wondering what the HECK I’m talking about, please read on. We can never have too much help or too much going to the unit. It will ALL get used by someone.
UPDATEand BUMP: Here’s the link for the USPS postage calculations. That PriMail Flat Rate box I sent today for $7.70 would have cost me $26.95 regular Priority! In the words of the Monkeys ~ “I’m a believer!”

They Damned Well Better Had

…as far as America’s concerned. Of course, as Bingley pointed out, Europe would prefer to write a stern letter.

Five months after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election as president of Iran, some leading figures in Tehran’s “mullahcracy” who backed him as a candidate are desperately trying to rein him in.

Sucks when your machinations bite you in the ayatollah a$$ahollah, doesn’t it?

Breaking News

Oh no.

Ten U.S. Marines killed in action Thursday by homemade bomb near Falluja, according to military news release.

UPDATE: More details just released.
Bastards.
Newsweek on patrol with the Marines.

Hurricane Epsilon

Sounds more like something on a Star Trek episode.

I Already Know the Ending

…so I can’t watch it. I’ll be crying for a week.

You guys lemme know how it is.