Go Georgia Tech!

Since my beloved Kentucky Wildcats lost early in this year�s NCAA championships, I�ve really had little interest in the playoffs this year. That said, I think it totally rocks that Georgia Tech (I know�who?) is in the final game, along with UCONN. I love having an underdog to root for.

I�m not real happy that the Lakers lost to San Antonio yesterday, but hey � you can�t win �em all. They had just won 21 in a row, after all. They�ve still beaten the Spurs 3 out of four games and thus will maintain home court advantage, should it come to that. And I can�t believe I�m saying this, but I like having Karl Malone as a Laker, now. Of course, why wouldn�t I since he�s basically breathed new life in to the team in the last few weeks? I still can�t get my head around having Gary Payton on our team, though.

On an entirely different topic � is it my imagination or has Janet Jackson had another boob job? Her breasts seems rather abnormally large these days; certainly larger than they were a few years ago.

So my weekend was pretty fun. On Saturday afternoon, I went down to Jody and Leonard�s in San Clemente, to celebrate their birthdays (both are this week). While there, they disclosed that they�re pregnant with baby number three. Apparently, it was a surprise pregnancy. Their youngest is almost six and they thought they were done. Oops. :)

I left their house at around 9:00pm and stopped by a bar in Huntington Beach to see Lou�s band (the Goodfellas) before I went home. Original Mike was playing with them. It was kind of a strange night, in all honesty. It was good to see Mike. We talked for a few minutes, even though his bitch�oops, I mean his girlfriend�was there. He used to be good friends with John (that�s how John and I met), so he was asking me a lot about him and our relationship and stuff. Sondra was already drunk before I even got there and she continued to drink so for the last hour she just sat there with that horrible �Oh my God, I�m way too drunk to have fun anymore and I hate life� look on her face. Poor thing. Since I was doing so much driving, I wasn�t doing much drinking and can I just say that people in bars are far more annoying and oddly less amusing when you�re the only sober one around? At least that can be said about the people in this particular bar. And Dave made me feel extremely uncomfortable, too.

Yesterday, I didn�t do much at all most of the day. At about 4:00 I decided to go for a long walk (about 5 miles, I think) along the beach. As my neighbor myra noted last week, there has been a lot of filming going on in various parts of Long Beach recently. Yesterday, they were doing so at the Olympic Pool in Belmont Shore as I walked by. I have no idea what they were filming, but�well, they were so if/when you see a movie or t.v. show with people swimming at an indoor pool, it may just possibly the one in my neighborhood.

So while I�m planning to again participate in the Breast Cancer 3-Day (taking place over my birthday weekend, in October), I decided to lead training walks in preparation. My first one is tomorrow�and a whopping one person has thus far signed up to join me! In truth, I was wondering if anybody would want to train this early in the game, but having just one person there with me makes me feel pressured to be entertaining. I don�t really like to talk much while I�m walking, at least not when I�m walking with strangers. So hopefully, some other people will sign up and take the pressure off of me.

Tonight, I am giving blood (and YOU SHOULD, TOO!) and may possibly go to the mall, afterward, to return some pants I recently bought but which look incredibly horrible on me.

And that, my friends, is what�s going on with me.

~~~

Politics

Bush Continues to Stonewall 9/11 Commission

Dear Karen:

President Bush is having trouble answering tough questions about his national security priorities leading up to the attacks of September 11. Why did he ignore President Clinton's urgent warnings to focus on the dangers from al Qaeda and terrorism?

Bush's reaction is just what we've come to expect from this White House: instead of answering with the truth, he denies, he obstructs, and he points fingers.

The Washington Post reported today that President Bush is refusing to release thousands of documents that detail the Clinton administration's strong focus on fighting terrorism to the commission investigating the attacks of September 11.

President Clinton made fighting terrorism his top national security priority*. President Bush failed to continue that focus, and now he's trying to hide the truth from the September 11 commission.

Take Action

President Bush is more concerned with protecting his image than with allowing the commission to complete its work and determine the best way to protect America from future terrorist attacks.

Click here to sign our petition calling on President Bush to release all documents that the commission needs, including the full account of President Clinton's focus on fighting terrorism.

~

Bush's Record of Obstructing the 9/11 Commission

President Bush's continued attempts to obstruct the work of the commission has made America less safe. Just look at his record.

� President Bush initially opposed creating the commission at all, and then gave in to the political pressure.

� Bush then appointed Henry Kissinger -- who made a career out of covering up the truth -- to head the commission. Kissinger was forced to resign because of possible conflicts of interest.

� Bush delayed giving the commission access to Presidential Daily Briefs, eventually allowing the commission to take a brief look at the documents and take White House-approved notes.

� Bush opposed giving the Commission an extension to finish its work after White House delays made the Commission's original deadline impossible to meet.

� Bush didn't want to allow National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly under oath, again giving in only after political pressure forced him to do so.

� Bush has tried to limit his own time in front of the commission as much as possible, trying to arrange a meeting only one hour long with only two commissioners. Bush has now agreed to meet with the whole commission, but only if Vice President Cheney is with him.

� Bush has handed over only 25 percent of the 11,000 pages of documents that show President Clinton's strong emphasis on fighting terrorism.

Quote of the Week

"You can outsource a lot of activities and get them done just as well, or better, at a lower cost."

Treasury Secretary John Snow, 3/30/04, confirming the Bush administration's commitment to sending American jobs overseas

~~~

*One thing that�s really pissing me off about this whole 9/11 Commission and resulting hoopla is the efforts on the part of many to mislead the American public in to thinking that the Clinton Administration is the one at fault here. While I�m sure they could have done more in this area, the plain truth is that Clinton�s people, in the days during the transition of administrations, tried in vain to get the Bush Administration focused not just on terrorism in general but specifically on Ossama bin Laden. They knew he was a threat; they knew he had threatened to use passenger airlines as weapons in an attack against us. Bush�s people just as plainly ignored their efforts to communicate these warnings.

But then, seeing as the Bush�s have been longstanding friends with the Bin Laden family and immediately following the terrorist attacks gave the family special permission to leave the country by air during a time when nobody was able to fly out of America for obvious reasons, one wonders about their determination to ignore the threats until it was too late.

And then they decided to go after Iraq.

Like me, you may be asking the burning question � what the fuck?

Wake up, people. Start asking the right questions and start placing blame where it belongs.

I would highly suggest reading Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken, specifically the chapter entitled �Operation Ignore� which deals specifically with the efforts on behalf on the Clinton Administration to make Bush aware of terrorism dangers. Sure, the book is written by a comedic writer, but it is extremely well-researched and once you read it you will know all of those things that Bush and company don�t want you to know about this matter. Plus, because it�s written by Al Franken, it�s often funny and not so dry as other political writings can often be.

And of course, while we�re on the subject of Bush and his many foibles, let�s talk about the price of gas, shall we?

REVERSING PLEDGE, BUSH LETS OPEC BILK AMERICANS

As a presidential candidate in 2000, George Bush pledged to use his "political capital" to influence OPEC when gas prices soared, saying that during a crisis, a president, "ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say, 'We expect you to open your spigots" (1). But with gas prices soaring in the United States (2), newspapers report the White House now says the president refuses to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders to change their minds" (3).

With the president refusing to do anything about the situation, OPEC opted this week to cut supply to further inflate gas prices and bilk American consumers (4). While Saudi Arabia's ambassador told the White House yesterday that his country supposedly opposed higher oil prices, the president's refusal to use his close relations with the Saudi government gave the Saudis a pass to support the OPEC production cut (5). Despite the Saudi effort to keep American energy prices high - and despite their ties to terror groups (6) - the President continues to insist that the Saudi Arabia is "our friend" (7).

During his term, the president has pursued other policies that help enrich the oil industry, which has given him more than $3 million since 2000 (8). For instance, his tax legislation actually created a massive tax incentive for consumers to purchase gas-guzzling SUVs over fuel efficient hybrid cars (9). Meanwhile, the first budget President Bush introduced after taking office tried to cut 37%, (almost $200 million), out of federal research on renewable energy and energy efficiency programs (10).

Sources:

1. "OPEC to cut back despite high prices", Washington Times, 04/01/2004

2. "Surging Gas Prices Pump Up Political Debate" Los Angeles Times, 03/31/2004

3. "Bush Refuses to Lean on Oil Cartel" Miami Herald, 04/01/2004

4. "OPEC cut to oil output likely to keep prices near record levels", Dallas Morning News, 04/01/2004

5. "Saudi envoy plays nice with White House on oil supply", USA Today, 04/02/2004

6. "The Saudi Connection", US News and World Report, 12/15/2003

7. President Bush Vows to Bring Terrorists to Justice, 05/15/2003

8. OpenSecrets.Org,

9. "SUV, truck owners get a big tax break", Detroit News, 12/18/2002

10. "Proposed Bush Budget Cuts Renewables and Energy Efficiency Programs", Resources for the Future, 04/11/2001

Visit Misleader.org for more about Bush Administration distortion

~~~

I also have a whole lot to say about Sunday�s 60 Minutes and Bush� apparent love for burning coal, but I fear this entry is already far too long. So I�ll save it for later/tomorrow.

Hasta, kids!

~~~

Word of the Day for Monday April 5, 2004

palaver puh-LAV-uhr; puh-LAH-vur, noun:

1. Idle talk

2. Talk intended to beguile or deceive.

3. A parley usually between persons of different backgrounds or cultures or levels of sophistication; a talk; hence, a public conference and deliberation.

intransitive verb: To talk idly.

transitive verb: To flatter; to cajole.

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


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