Entries from June 2002 ↓

Randall gave me a bird cage. I think I’m gonna get me some ‘keets. That should cause the cats some torture and frustration, huh? (Did I mention my lizard in my previous rant about my animals and my morning routine?)

Conspiracies are so much fun! I even like saying the words: Bilderbergs, Trilateral Commisssion, Freemasons, Illuminati, al-Qaeda, Grassy Knoll, Watergate, Fostergate… and now:

John Doe Number 2.

Here’s a quickie primer: Along with Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, there are many reports of another “John Doe #2″ who was spotted around and within the conspiracy to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The FBI has been accused of ignoring evidence that there was a 3rd man. Then, when Jose Padilla (the so-called “Dirty Bomber”) is transferred to military custody, several web authors see his picture and see a resemblance between Padilla and a sketch of John Doe #2 released in 1995. Then the details start appearing: Padilla in Florida at the same time as Nichols and McVeigh, Nichols in the Philippines with Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan — two of those involved with the 1993 WTC bombing, Padilla converting to Islam at the same time Benevolence International Foundation – one of the Muslim charities accused of funding al-Qaeda — sets up its headquarters 5 minutes from the Taco Bell where Padilla works. (And, even though this has nothing to do with the case, Nichols’ ex-wife is named Lana Padilla.) (This Jose Padilla has nothing to do with it either.)

So is there really this worldwide secret terrorist crusade which brings together Islamist jihadis, Waco-incensed apocalyptic Christians, and government-fearing American militias? Are they joined by the IRA, the Tamil Tigers and perhaps even the Alaskan Independence Party. What about Weight Watchers, the PTA, the AAA, and the Freepers? Is there nothing we can’t tie together?

How long until they arrest poor Kevin Bacon?

The insulting was rather unexpected for Nikoleta who really believed that her weight would cause no problems for romantic friendship with the man. The insulted girl decided to obtain justice with the help of the law. Nikoleta Popesku has brought an action against Gabriel Malinesku on compensation of moral damage caused by the “hippopotamus” insulting.

I think the hippos might have a case in the Romanian courts, too, after all, hippopotamus insulting is nothing to laugh about.

From Russia Makes It Funny

From today’s New York Times (reg. req’d)

At the same time, the White House accelerated work on its proposal to create a homeland security department, under pressure from members of Congress who had complained that without the actual legislation they would have difficultly making progress.

Why should the Homeland Security Dep’t Act need “actual legislation”? After all, Congress overwhelmingly passed the USA PATRIOT Act – 342 pages of complex changes to countless laws and over 15 Departments and Agencies — without public hearing, debate, committee reports or House-Senate conferences.

(Just in case you didn’t know, USA PATRIOT is really an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001″.)

(It could also be said to stand for “Unconstitutional, Systemic Attacks on Privacy and The Rights of Immigrants in Our Territory”)

I’m waiting for passage of the POLICE STATE Act of 2002. (Prevention Of Liberty In Case Environmentalists, Saddam or Terrorists Attack This Empire.)

Forest Worker Held in Fire Creates Anger and Sympathy

Guy wonders why I need to get up at 4am and why I need that stay-awake drug. So, let me take you thru my morning…

At approximately 4am, the cats (all 4 of them) begin to stir. This wakes the dog, who feels it is incumbent upon him to protect us from the intrusion of the cats. He jumps out of the bed, chases a cat down the stairs, then returns to pounce on the bed and alert us in celebration of his victory. He repeats this for each cat.

By this time it is 4:30am and my alarm starts its insistent bleating at a frequency carefully calibrated to make my abdominal muscles contract, lifting me into a fully sitting position. When I finally find the snooze button (which seems to migrate around the top of the clock radio so it is never where I expect it to be) so to silence my alarm, Jenn’s alarm sounds, blasting bad nu-metal at 130dB just in case Pete Townsend needed to hear Puddle of Mudd through his tinnitus while standing next to the nacelle of a 767. She doesn’t hear it.

Continue reading →

Great Names for Bands Dep’t:
Tension Dam in the Trough of Urine

…may pass right by your house. Over each of the next 38 years, approximately 2760 trucks will travel US roads carying nuclear waste on its way to Yucca Mountain in Nevada, where it is to be permanently stored.
Want to see how close it’ll come to your house? Visit the Environmental Working Group’s Nuclear Waste Route Atlas.
Doing a few calculations on some numbers I picked up from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Traffic Safety Facts 2000: Large Trucks” publication, I come up with these figures:

• approximately 8,000,000 large trucks registered in the US in 2000
• approximately 450,000 large trucks involved in crashes in 2000
• that makes an accident rate of about 17%

Believe me: I know my methodology is not perfect when I say that if we apply this rate to the 2760 trucks carrying nuclear waste around the country each year, we can expect about 490 accidents involving these vehicles each year for the next 4 decades.

Sure, most of these accidents will be minor fender benders, but someone tell me: what are the odds that some of these accidents are not going to be minor?

And… do I even need to talk about the possibility of terrorism? (Or of earthquakes once the waste gets to Yucca Mountain?)

Can you spell “inevitable”?

It’s a slow Monday at work after a busy weekend. At 10:30, I’m having a hell of a time keeping my eyes open. This is not unusual; in fact it’ll happen to me again at around 4:00 this afternoon, as it does nearly every day. Luckily, I drive a desktop, so I’m not endangering anyone else with my dozing.
I hate it: that inability to give in to a pleasant nap coming at the same instant as the inability to stay awake. I start daydreaming about bringing a cot in to work or closing myself in one of the “workforce reduction”-vacated offices and snoring away for an hour or so. Then I read this article in the WaPo about modafinil (brand name Provigil), a miracle drug which can let me go for forty hours without sleep, without speed jitters, without the amphetamine crash, and most importantly, without the loss of focus other stimulants leave you with.
Had this drug been more widely known, perhaps the US Air National Guard would not have “accidentally” bombed and killed Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Perhaps we could keep medical residents working their average 93-hour workweek.

I wonder, though, is it normal to be looking for more hours in the day to be busy, to get things done, to work, to study? Or is it something which, on other continents, they’ll be saying: “It’s just an American thing.”

The New York Times has this interesting headline:
Forest Worker Is Held in Fire in Colorado
Must be a new Ashcroft policy.