I really love it when I�m right.

So come to find out Jessica Lynch wasn�t a POW after all. Turns out her Jeep crashed, causing her injuries, and she was in the hospital recovering when the Marines �rescued� her.

Not that this is a big deal or anything; this isn�t proof of some military cover-up or Public Relations ploy. It may in fact have even been the media rushing to get a story out before waiting to make certain of the facts. I have no idea.

I only know that I am right! What else really matters?

~~~

In other news�I am not going to Vegas this weekend, after all. Our trip was postponed to July. CJ, my nephew whose birthday we were to celebrate, went to some two-day-long outdoor concert over the weekend and got mosquito bites all over his face. He is now afraid to be seen in public. On top of that, his step-brother lost his ID. They all look even younger than their years and his not having an ID would have been a major problem in Las Vegas; they get carded every five feet, I swear. Thank God Vegas now has wrist-bands they can put on such youngsters, once their age is proven. Anyway, so now we�re going next month.

Damn kids.

I�m bummed, but in truth I am kind of relieved that now I can spend the money I had set aside for Vegas on stuff for my pad, which I�ve been putting off. I told Amy this when she broke the news this morning and she said she did the same thing. Her cupboards were pert near empty so when she found out we weren�t going to Vegas she went out and bought a bunch of food.

Ok, I really don�t think we should be using food money to go to Vegas anyway, hon�

This does mean, however, that I will be doing some serious partying here locally this week. I was so looking forward to being drunk and debauched and I ain�t going back on my plans to be so, dammit!

~~~

I don�t know about ya�ll, but I am rather sickened by the fact that the Republican Party is planning on exploiting the tragic events of Sept. 11 during their National Convention in August. The convention is, of course, taking place in NYC. The city is coincidentally planning a ceremony during which they will plant the first cornerstone of the re-building of the WTC site. Of course, the Republicans want to use the occasion as a grandstanding moment.

I am disgusted. I am sickened because what happened on Sept. 11, 2001 has nothing at all to do with politics or political parties. No one party suffers terrorism more than another, no one parties pain is any more deep. To use this occassion as time to make party-line speaches is just gross. If I were a Republican, this one act alone would be enough to convince me to look for a more worthy party in which to instill my faith.

Of course, I don�t know why I should be surprised, since Dubya and his flunkies have been exploiting our national pain to their own ends essentially since Sept. 12, 2001.

~~~

Ya�ll should really check out The Memory Hole. Right now, I wish to direct you to these photos on the site which show members of the present Administration buddying up to President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan. In essence, this man is a dictator no better than Saddam.

An excerpt from from US Looks Away as New Ally Tortures Islamists by Nick Paton Walsh, Guardian (London), 26 May 2003:

�Independent human rights groups estimate that there are more than 600 politically motivated arrests a year in Uzbekistan, and 6,500 political prisoners, some tortured to death. According to a forensic report commissioned by the British embassy, in August two prisoners were even boiled to death.

The US condemned this repression for many years. But since September 11 rewrote America's strategic interests in central Asia, the government of President Islam Karimov has become Washington's new best friend in the region.�

See, this is the type of thing that burns my ass every time I hear people say we invaded Iraq (both times) for humanitarian reasons. That is such a load of bullshit. We rarely care about humanitarian issues; we care when it is in our best interest to care.

As I�ve said before, I think humanitarian issues are a valid reason to support a war, including the invasion of Iraq. Let�s just not fool ourselves in to believing human rights and actually caring about others has anything whatsoever to do with our motives as a country.

From Amnesty International's 2003 report on Uzbekistan:

�The bodies of Muzafar Avazov, a 35-year-old father of four, and Khusniddin Alimov, aged 34, were brought from Jaslyk prison in the Northern Karaklapakstan region to their families in Tashkent on 8 August. Muzafar Avazov was reportedly tortured to death; an eyewitness said the body showed signs of burns on the legs, buttocks, lower back and arms. Reportedly, there was a large wound on the back of the head, bruises on the forehead, and the hands had no fingernails. The authorities reportedly restricted viewing of Khusniddin Alimov's body.�

There is much, much more. This man�s regime is every bit as evil as Saddam�s was in Iraq, it would appear to me.

And in answer to the various e-mails I have received in the last week or so: No, I most certainly do not think it right that the US Congress is investigating the events leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks. How can one arm freely and impartially review the actions of another? It�s complete and utter bullshit, but alas I expected no less. In my opinion, we will not know what has really been going on for the last few years until we are all old and gray�and then I�ll write another �I told you so� entry.

That said, is it rather telling that in Newsweek, Knight Ridder has reported (as have other media outlets) that the Bush Administration is working to block the release of the Joint Inquiry's full report. Officials were quoted as saying that they'd like to retroactively classify parts of the material that came out during the open hearings. Seems they're upset about some of the information divulged by senior intelligence officials and by the Inquiry staff's leader, Eleanor Hill (they now regret giving Hill and her team access to so many classified intelligence briefings).

Also, let us keep in mind that although the Intelligence Committees from the US Senate and House teamed up to probe the events leading up to 9/11 from June to October 2002, the Joint Investigation ran into all kinds of roadblocks. It took Congress five months to even announce the inquiry and another four months before it got started. Bush and Cheney each personally asked then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to keep the scope of the probe narrow. Republican Senator Richard Shelby openly complained of the lack of cooperation from the FBI, intelligence agencies, and others. Read more about all of this here.

Throughout June, July, and the first half of September, 2002, the Joint Inquiry held closed sessions. The second half of September saw all open hearings, while those in October alternated between open and closed. In December, the Joint Inquiry issued its report, but only 24 pages were publicly released out of a total of over 800.

Hmm�I wonder why�

And yes, I most certainly do think that the Bush administration should be investigated for misleading the American public (not to mention the United Nations) into believing we had proof of the buildup of Weapons of Mass Destruction so that we had reason to invade Iraq. The real question is, do I think anything will come out of the investigation since, again, one arm will be �investigating� another? Hey, no conflict of interest here!

The answer would be, no I do not think anything will come of it.

And I really hate being so cynical about my country, but there�s the facts and while I may be a cynic, I ain�t no fool.

~~~

In more localized political news, it looks very possible that the Governor of my fair state, Gray Davis, may be recalled. The Republicans who are out to get him claim only to be around 200,000 signatures away from getting their petition instituted on our next ballot, which would mean we�d then be able to vote on whether or not to recall him.

I don�t want Davis to be recalled, but mainly because I am afraid of the Republican morons who want his seat. Davis has really bungled out state budget, there�s no denying that. That said, most of the things the people of this state are pissed off about really have nothing to do with him or his talents as Governor. Our energy crises revolve around deals made long before he took office; they also have a lot to do with private industries such as Enron raping the people of California in times of crisis. In my opinion, Davis has handled that stuff as best he could.

But, ya know�he has really fucked up our budget.

An additional problem for Gray is that he just does not play political games. He just doesn�t get involved in the trashier aspects of the political game. This is why I love him. However, this has also meant that he has been vewy, vewy quiet over the last couple of months that this recall-talk has been going on.

~~~

Well, I just heard that my co-worker Rob does in fact have cancer of some sort (lump in his back, �member?). It�s stage one so hopefully they can take care of him, but he�ll be going thru radiation and chemotherapy for a while. I heard this all via The Little Big Man, so the details are sketchy (men are so helpful in gathering details, aren�t they?).

Not to put a selfish point on this, but this is also going to mean lots of fun at work, I assure you.

~~~

I watched an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond recently that totally reminded me of my parents (sssh�.don�t tell the folks I am comparing them to Raymond�s parents! My dad still hasn�t recovered from the day I told him he looks like Archie Bunker. Hey, I didn�t say his personality reminded me of Archie Bunker!).

In this episode, the parents were saying nice things about their sons, but not when they were actually in the room to hear it. Like they were telling Raymond that his brother is �the looker� in the family and going on and on about how nice looking he is; then they talked to the brother about how awesome Raymond is for whatever reason. They would never compliment the actual person, though, for fear of causing them to get a big head.

My parents are exactly like that!

For instance, my mom is always saying nice things to my sister about how I don�t need a man around and I would never get in to the position of being dependent on a man and how proud she is of me and yadda-yadda-yadda.

When I�m in the room she mocks the fact that I�m not barefoot and pregnant and cooking three meals a day for my husband.

My dad is the same way�except that I don�t think he even compliments us behind our backs.

Don�t get me wrong, my folks are great people and I have no doubt they love me and are proud of me and the things I have accomplished. Well, I don�t have a doubt now. But�uh�well, it�s probably a lot easier to understand where I get this extremely low self-esteem now, isn�t it?

And they have said the same thing, straight out � they don�t tell us kids how great we are because they don�t want us to get a big head.

I do think this is why I do the exact opposite: When I like something about you, I will tell you. I think people need to hear these things and it takes nothing away from me to say what I�m thinking or feeling in the first place. Well, plus, it�s not called a �big head�. It�s called confidence.

~~~

And finally�thanks to amblus I have discovered that I am 20.31558% - Geek. Surprising, considering how many technical questions were at the crux of this little quiz. I guess that means the other parts of me that aren�t technical and don�t watch much Star Trek are really, supremely geeky, to compensate for my lower scores in those other areas.

P.S. What the hell happened to my web counter???

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~~~~~~~~~~~peace, love and smooches~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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