Right Side Out

Ted Stevens is being investigated for corruption, specifically, unreported income.

OK, I'm in favor of people under suspicion of corruption being investigated, and all, so that's good. The thing is, I always thought that Ted Stevens was just too bat-shit crazy to actually be breaking the law. I'm stunned that investigators actually found enough evidence to get a warrant.

Hollow Victory

You know how sometimes I say that I'm good at stuff? You know, like, "I'm a good singer", or, "I really like to bake", or, as in the case of the shrimp-and-goat-cheese experiment "I am a genius"? Well, today I'd like to officially announce that I SUCK at wood-working projects. Not even real wood working projects, just basic assembly.

I bought a lovely chair from bestadirondackchair.com. The web site said that it comes 85% assembled, and included easy instructions. OK, the instructions weren't so bad, but if that was 85% assembled, then WHY WAS THE BACK OF THE CHAIR IN 11 PIECES?! I had to put the 8 back slats together with the 3 brackets. I did not do a very good job. I'm kinda pissed off, because it was not a cheap chair. Yes, it looks lovely now that it's put together, but it took me 7 hours to do, with 2 breaks. First break was for lunch and to go buy a 1/2 inch ratchet bit, because apparently I only had up to 7/16 in the house, and the second was to have dinner and watch a movie. I rented Little Miss Sunshine, which probably had a fine ending, but the disk froze and I can't yet say for sure.

So what I'm saying is, my Sunday was not the easy restful day that I'd hoped it would be, and I suck at putting together furniture.

Perhaps They Read Skippy

Democrats Request Perjury Probe of Gonzales

"We ask that you immediately appoint an independent special counsel from outside the department of justice to determine whether attorney general Gonzales may have misled congress or perjured himself in testimony before congress," they wrote.

Personally, I'm at a point where I'm actually more outraged by the half-truths than I am by the idea that the firings were unjustified. If you lie under oath, you're supposed to be punished. It's the law. I applaud senators Schumer, Feinstein & Feingold for authoring this letter.

If You Can't Do the Time

We know what perjury means, and what the consequences are supposed to be, right?

Memo Refutes Gonzales' Surveillance Testimony
Documents obtained by AP contradict attorney general's sworn statement

The documents underscore questions about Gonzales' credibility as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization.

There are conflicting accounts in sworn testimonies. What is there to consider? Someone is being untruthful, and an investigation is the way to find out who is telling the truth. Why do we not take action?

Making a Committment

Not everyone has the nerve to commit to insulting a president in an out-and-out manner, but Scott Adams wins even more of my love with yesterday's post:

President Bush recently had some polyps removed from his colon. Sometimes polyps can turn cancerous, but I doubt his are. After all, President Bush hasn’t had much luck finding weapons of ass destruction.

I’m posting this now before someone else thinks of it. I might already be too late.

And allow me to be the first to wonder aloud how the surgeons could see past Condi’s head to see those polyps.

This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime humor situations. You can play along at home. Leave a comment with your own best joke about the president’s semi-colon.

Go.

OCD

Anyone else finish the Harry Potter book, yet?

Maybe I'm Just Tired

Maybe I'm tired, maybe I'm old, maybe I'm just starting to hate war and violence so universally that I want it all to end no matter what, I'm not sure. I do know that today when I was reading this article about Israel tying to work with Fatah: Israel frees scores of Palestinian prisoners, all I could think about is how I want it all to stop already. I've only been thinking about it since I was a teenager, and it's been going on since England carved the region up like this. People have been living with this for years and years, and yet, the animosity never dies, never fades. I read the final paragraph,

It is years since Israel and the Palestinians last discussed issues at the heart of the conflict -- borders of a Palestinian state, the return of refugees and the status of Jerusalem.

and I thought to myself, "Just give them the right of return, already". No thoughts to the fact that it would upset the people who have bought that land for themselves, no thought to how the governments could actually organize such a massive undertaking, no thought about how it would incite more violence if Palestinians actually came to *live* on land that they'd (or most likely their parents had) been displaced from, now Israeli land. Nope, I just thought "Fine, give it to them already, if it will stop the shooting".

Of course it will not stop the shooting. This continues to make me tired.

News I Wasn't Expecting

From the Jewish Press "Quick Takes: News From Israel You May Have Missed":

A confidential medical report released to the Palestinian Authority from the French hospital in which Yasir Arafat died revealed that the Palestinian leader succumbed to AIDS, said the founder and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command terrorist group.

Ahmed Jibril – the infamous, Damascus-based PFLP chief who at times was a close Arafat confidante – said in an interview with Hizbullah's Al-Manar television that PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his team told him the French medical report listed AIDS as Arafat's cause of death.

Arafat died Nov. 11, 2004, at a military hospital in Paris. The official cause of death was not released because French law prohibits distribution of medical records to anyone other than immediate family. A copy of Arafat's medical report was obtained in 2005 by the PA as part of an internal investigation into Arafat's death.

You know, I just didn't see that one coming.

Just did a quick Google search and saw that they blogged about this on Little Green Footballs. No wonder I hadn't heard.

It's About Consistency, Baby

What DBK said.

I could care less about your parts if your parts aren't involved in making legal decisions. If they are...

Simple Question

I got this in my email today, from CNN:

-- Al Qaeda is stepping up efforts to sneak terrorists into the U.S. and has rebuilt most of its capability to strike here, an intelligence estimate states, according to The Associated Press.

So if intelligence estimates this, are we doing something to prepare for it? Counter measures, perhaps?

You never hear about that part. It's as if they're trying to scare the poop out of us. If they weren't, they'd end with a line like "Authorities nationwide prepare to defend against the threat". Completely non-specific, yet totally optimistic. But they don't say that, which is why I believe that they're going with the "fear sells" concept.

Great, now I'm thinking of the dramatic chipmunk.

chuppah4

chuppah4
Originally uploaded by tryaches

The chuppah quilt from my sister's wedding.

Security Blanket, Moths

Many Homeland Security Positions Vacant
"Gaping hole" in nation's preparedness, congressional report says

In an interview, Thompson said that vacancies have weakened morale and reflect an over-reliance on contractors. He also called the report a warning "that we can expect more vacancies to occur than what we have been accustomed to" at the close of the administration, when many top personnel will leave their posts.

What, there's no one to do these jobs? Are we out of administration cronies? Is all of Halliburton taking the summer off?

The concept that administration cronies will simply get up and leave when their preferred bosses do makes me feel vindicated in my ire, but pretty fucking hopeless about security in the next few years. We're substandard now, and we will be for a good while until a reality-based administration gets its toehold and can get working.

Once again, I wonder if I should buy a gun.

And Then, Reality

Sometimes, people write reviews in which they interpret the item they're reviewing.

Sometimes, the author sees the review, and lets them know they're just wrong.

(hat tip Tata)

My Saturday Night's Planned

Worst. Synopsis. Ever.*

And yet...


I love me some Kevin Sorbo. I made it through most of "Andromeda", I can make it through this.

* The plot itself doesn't sound so bad, but that is one poorly written synopsis. Brevity, people!

Report

My sister looked awesome.
You're not reading that right if you didn't hear my voice go all high and quavery on the last word.

I suppose the groom looked good, too. Does anyone ask that?