thisiswhatyoushalldo

Candy cigs and comic books

Remember these? Ah, those were the days. The cigarette industry and the candy industry working hand in hand.

I swiped this from a post on Metafilter but doesn’t mean it isn’t funny. How about the The New Yorker Book of Martini Cartoons? This is fun. You can enter in a subject and the New Yorker website will put together a group of cartoons with that theme. For more fun, try dot com and business. Hours of unproductive fun.

Break Time

In a never ending quest to always have some way to remain unproductive, I present for your enjoyment”
The coffeebreak arcade. A collection of shockwave games of all sorts.
Now remember, you have to do your chores first before you can boast your high scores. Or, as they say at The AOL 12-year-old translator:
IM VERY GOD AT PLAYNG COLAPSA1!!!! WTF LOL

Dude, Where’s My God?

According to belief.net’s Belief o matic I am more closely aligned with the Quakers and Unitarian church, but also in a three way tie with Buddhism, Liberal Protestantism and Neo Paganism.
What is your Theology IQ?

Bully!

I am about 300 pages into The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. I have always been fascinated by this guy and remember reading a young adult biography about him at the library as a boy.
But I must say, Morris has put this man’s life on paper in vivid prose and stirring narrative. This is an enjoyable read and Morris does a magnificent job in telling the story of Tweed. It won the Pulitzer Prize back in 1979 when it was originally published. And it was revised and expanded in 2001, just before the release of Theodore Rex, which is next on the reading list.
But you can’t help but feel how things have radically changed in the Republican party when you compare GOP loyalist Roosevelt – trust buster, environmentalist, determined to be independent of the party machine and reknowned for his brain, wit, energy and intelligence and compare that to the current state of the Republican party and its current leader.
Bush has said in the past that he greatly admires Roosevelt and hopes to emulate him (what modern President hasn’t said those things), but except for a short little sabre rattling war to start a new century, the comparisons cannot be made.
Not even close.

Torn Between Two Goals

I agree with the Bush administration when they say catching or accounting for Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden will just be a matter of time. And I hope they can do just that and bring some closure to the Iraq conflict and perhaps some accountability for the terrible events of 9/11.

Saying this also brings about the sad realization that upon their arrest or at least on finding them, possibly already dead – Bush will have won the election.

Our public has a very short and simplistic memory and if Bush and his administration can stand on a stage with a backdrop printed with some new phrase of the day, say” Winning the War on Terrorism” and make the announcement of the capture of Hussein and Bin Laden, well then, Democrats can just go home. It will be many years before they can ever take power.

So, what can we do about it?
I certainly support the efforts to hold Bin Laden and Al Quaeda accountable for 9/11. And the decision on Hussein has already been made, he has been removed from power and the only way to bring some real resolution to that conflict is to arrest Hussein and hold him accountable for the list of offenses we used to invade his country.
But I dread another four years of Bush in the White House. As congressional and senate Republicans get stronger and stronger, Bush will have a self-imagined mandate upon reelection to really begin sweeping changes on the nation.
This guy is the most right wing conservative fundamentalist Christian President we have ever seen. He is also absolutly sure he has all the answers and has been chosen by God to lead our nation.
Upon reelection, when he doesn’t have to tip toe around the Florida/Gore election issues to get his ideas across, Bush will have carte blanche to really make some changes.
If you do not fit the economic or social mold of the right wing Conservative Christian philosophy, beware.
The next 10 or 15 years will be difficult and frustrating and you may no longer recognize your nation. It will take that long, or longer, to change the issues regarding reproductive rights, gay rights, environment, taxes, social and welfare policies.

On The Seventh Day – No Rest

Finishing up day seven of a seven day shift. Ugh!
Good news – I am now working on the Western Union account. A lot less tedious, it seems, then the auction payments account.
Good news – This is my last day as a temp with Prime Source. I go on as a full time employee at Finali Corp starting tomorrow.
A small raise, some benefits and some paid time off.
So I got that going for me. Which is nice.
I have a ton of stuff to post and talk about. Perhaps tomorrow.

I was cruising around on Google the other day and I found a relic from my past that I had been looking for for a long time.
Words in Color was a reading program that our school district in Moffat County, Colorado used for a years and years to teach reading to the elementary school children. A few months or so ago, I was talking to my sister and another childhood friend about this wacky program of posters and phonics and colorized letters and how we all felt it gave us good reading and comprehension skills.
And apparently it does. There are case studies of the program and it is stil quite popular in England, France and Japan as part of an early reading education program.
And for just $55.00 I can get a set of the posters, so perhaps a purchase and some wall decorating is in my future.

And this is why Bush will win in 2004

“A third of the American public believes U.S. forces have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, according to a recent poll. Twenty-two percent said Iraq actually used chemical or biological weapons.”