Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Bug Crawls Up Bill Frist’s Ass — Dies Painful Death

Congress Agrees to Raise Broadcast-Indecency Fines
“When families are watching a Sunday night football game, they shouldn’t have to brace themselves for a televised strip tease,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said in a floor statement yesterday, referring to the 2004 Super Bowl. Frist championed the new bill.

Oh, for Christ’s sake.

Get a fucking grip, Bill!!

He’s got no problem with sitting the family down in front of the spectacle of grown men beating the crap out of one another on the football field, but he’s all concerned about what a brief glimpse of Janet Jackson’s tit is going to do to the kiddies?? What a loon!

(And before you get all worried, I don’t really have any objections to football. I’m just saying: football is at least as objectionable as the sight of Janet Jackson’s nipple. That piercing… it just hurt to even see it!)

There is something seriously wrong with Bill Frist. I’m not kidding, people. Maybe it’s a brain disease. Or screwed up toilet training when he was just a little bitty Republican. Or maybe his mommy accidentally pinched his little weiner when she was giving him a bath when he was just a babe. Whatever it is, he’s got some really sick and creepy attitudes towards the human body. And don’t forget, Bill Frist is the same guy who used to go to animal shelters, pretending he wanted to adopt pet cats, then take the poor things home and kill them so he could dissect their hearts. All so he could pursue his fabulous career in… politics.

Sick fuck.

He should be hospitalized somewhere — undergoing intense psychiatric treatment — not writing asinine legislation.

Congratulations to washingtonpost.com!

washingtonpost.com Wins Three EPpy Awards
washingtonpost.com won three awards in categories for Web sites with more than 1 million unique monthly visitors. In the category for Best Overall Newspaper-Affiliated Internet Service, washingtonpost.com beat NYTimes.com and usatoday.com.

On 9/11, when I first heard of the attacks on the World Trade Center, I turned immediately to washingtonpost.com. (I was at school — George Mason University — and didn’t have easy access to a television.) There, on a front page that had obviously been thrown together quickly, was a large photograph of one of the two jets hitting a tower. Washingtonpost.com was on top of the story then, as they have continued to be ever since.

They really deserve these awards. One testament to how good the washingtonpost.com web site is, is that I almost never have to think about the mechanics of using the site when I’m on it. It’s really well designed. Much to the chagrin of the print edition’s subscription department, I — like many other regular readers — use ONLY the web edition of the paper.

Feeding Time!

Wow! I once again had incredibly good luck with the Minnesota Power Falcon Cam! When I tuned in, one of the parents was feeding the chicks.

Here you can see that we can finally confirm — yes, there are four chicks this year!

Just when you think it can’t get any cooler, look who shows up on the perch off the nesting platform! It’s the other parent — and he’s got more food!

He came in with his…whatever that is (a mouse?)…and the other parent flew off. Maybe she’s going to look for more food. I would imagine it takes a LOT of mice to satisfy four rapidly growing falcon chicks.

I’m still watching as I’m writing this. The chicks didn’t eat much of this second meal. Now the parent who’d arrived with it has gone to the perch (to wait for the other parent’s return?) and the chicks are back huddling together in a pile. They’re becoming a lot more active now but they’re still not walking in any meaningful way. I think I can see just the barest beginnings of wing feathers sprouting!

Our National Language

Senate Votes English as ‘National Language’
After an emotional debate fraught with symbolism, the Senate yesterday voted to make English the “national language” of the United States, declaring that no one has a right to federal communications or services in a language other than English except for those already guaranteed by law.

I actually don’t have a problem with this.

I was thinking about it just a few days ago and it occurred to me that while, sure, the majority of non-English-speaking people in this country are Spanish-speakers, there are still a lot of other people (who don’t speak English well) who are NOT Spanish speakers. I personally have known several people who speak Korean as their primary language. I know a woman who’s most comfortable with Ukranian. The ladies who own the place where I get my hair cut speak Farsi. If we’re going to provide instructions for everything in Spanish, don’t we owe it to our other immigrants to provide all that information in their native languages too?

Obviously, something like that would quickly become unmanageable.

I don’t have a problem with businesses having Spanish or Korean (or whatever) signs up — or their employees speaking Spanish or Korean. Of course, if they don’t speak some English, they’re not going to get many English-only customers. But that’s their problem. They’re not obligated to do business with everyone who walks in the door.

I think the most rational thing is to just say: English is our national language. If you want to be a citizen, you must learn enough English to understand our official documents and such.

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) called the amendment “racist,” and Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) dismissed it as divisive and anti-American.

Well, that’s just stupid. There’s nothing racist about requiring citizens to all know English. English has been the language of the great majority of people in this country for the past 230 years. Race has nothing to do with it. And “divisive”? Please. How much more divisive could it be than to have a country full of people who can’t communicate with one another because they don’t speak the same language??

Kooks on Parade, Part 6

Robertson Says God Told Him About Storms
In another in a series of notable pronouncements, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says God told him storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America’s coastline this year.

I think it’s really wonderful how Pat Robertson seems to get even crazier with every passing year.

Now that he’s gone all “Psychic Network”, what could possibly be left for him? I’m thinking maybe…

Trepanning for God?

You know… to let the demons out… ?

Mount St. Helens — 26 Years Later

Columbian.com – Serving Clark County, Washington
Twenty-six years ago today, Mount St. Helens exploded with the force of a 24-megaton bomb.

I was living in Lincoln City, Oregon — about 80 miles south of Mount St. Helens — when it first exploded. I was indoors and I heard what sounded like thunder coming from over the mountains. The ground shook a bit. Only a few hours later when I turned on the television did I realize what had happened. Later, there was a minor ash-fall.

I had already left Oregon when the second big eruption a few months later deposited a LOT of ash on the Lincoln City area. My friend Anne was still there, though, and she saved a little bottle full of it for me.

Zow… 26 years ago today. A different place. A different husband! A whole different life, it seems.

Gay Marriage Amendment to Go Before Senate

Feingold, Specter Clash Over Gay Marriage
The Georgia constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was approved by 76 percent of the state’s voters in November 2004.

That’s a pretty good reason not to move to Georgia! Unless, that is, what the Post really meant is that 76% of the people who voted approved the amendment. If only a small percentage of those who were eligible to vote actually participated, then it’s maybe not quite so dire a situation.

On Tuesday, however, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell ruled the measure violated the Georgia constitution’s single-subject rules for ballot questions.

It also violates common sense and basic human decency — but why let little things like those stand in the way of an irrational fear of people whose only “crime” is to have same-sex affectional preferences?

Actually, though, this whole thing in Georgia is all a side show. The main event is the Justice committee’s vote to send the unconsititutional and deeply immoral “anti-gay-marriage” amendment to the full Senate for debate. Specter was in favor of the Senate debate (although he opposes the amendment) and Feingold was against it. I suppose I can see both sides. On the one hand, it would be good to know exactly where all of the senators come down on this. If some closet homophobes have been lurking in the Senate (next to all the totally “out” homophobes already there), it would be good to know about them before the next elections. On the other hand, sending the amendment to the Senate for debate implies that is has some sort of legitimacy.

And, of course, it doesn’t.

The “marriage amendment” represents the imposition of one group’s purely religious ideology upon all the citizens of this country. That’s wrong. It’s a violation of the principle upon which our democracy was founded — that governments (and, by extension, laws) exist in order to help people achieve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Since the marriage of gay citizens doesn’t impinge upon the rights of other citizens to pursue their own life, liberty, and happiness, the government has absolutely no right to forbid gay marriage.

Who knows how this will all turn out, though. There seems to be an unusually high percentage of complete assholes around these day — and most of them vote Republican.

Build A Wall… If You Must

Salon.com | News Wires
“There are so many of us, most with families and roots in the United States. They are never going to stop us from crossing,” said Julio Cesar Gutierrez, a 21-year-old from the western city of Guadalajara who was planning to swim across the Rio Grande into Texas from the border city of Nuevo Laredo. “We will dig under a wall, go over one. If the authorities over there want a war, we will fight.”

Juilio, you’re a moron. God knows, I’m in favor of allowing the illegal immigrants who are already here to become citizens. I’m in favor of EVERYONE in the US being protected by fair labor laws — regardless of their citizenship status. And I don’t have any problem with people who speak Spanish — though I think you ought to be required to achieve some minimal level of English language ability if you want to live here. BUT — there’s no good reason for the United States continuing to allow undocumented people to enter the country. The idea of building a big wall leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, but if the Mexican authorities aren’t going to help us prevent people from entering illegally, what are we supposed to do?

The kind of talk that’s coming from young Mr. Gutierrez is exactly the sort of thing that’s got lots of people completely freaked out. It’s foolish — and it’s dangerous.

“They want to treat migrants like criminals,” he said. “All we want to do is work.”

And there’s nothing wrong with that — nothing at all. What we need is a simple yet effective way for people like Mr. Gutierrez to legally gain entry into the US to work. And we need to encourage Mr. Gutierrez to stay here, learn English, become a citizen, buy a house and settle down — become a member of the community.

The Magical Loaf Studio

Well, here’s a fun thing to play around with!

The Magical Loaf Studio: Create Your Own Adventist-Style Vegan Dinner Loaf!

I used it to sorta-kinda represent how I make Not-Meat Loaf. Here’s the recipe it spat out:

Not-Meat Loaf

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pecans
2 TB olive oil
One onion, diced
One large garlic clove, minced
2 cups vegetarian burger or sausage crumbles
1 cup dry whole wheat bread crumbs
1/2 to 1 1/2 cups tomato juice, as needed
3 TB tapioca flour
2 TB ketchup
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Oil a loaf pan or spray with nonstick spray and set aside.

Grind the pecans into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté any vegetables you’ve chosen in the olive oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well, adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny. Add more liquid or binder/carbohydrate as needed.

Press mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter and slice. Serve with potatoes, vegetables, and vegetarian gravy, if desired.

Cold leftover slices of Not-Meat Loaf make a great sandwich filling.

*Disclaimer: I have not personally tried every possible combination of ingredients and therefore cannot vouch for the tastiness or efficacy of every Dinner Loaf creation. Happy eating!l

Check it out — you might get some new ideas for “loaf” type food. I have to admit that “dinner loaf” (I’d never heard it called that before) is an especially satisfying meal — particularly on a cold Autumn night with some mashed potatoes and maybe some cooked carrots. Mmmm. It almost makes me want to skip summer and go directly to Fall.

The Wednesday Falcon Report

As always, courtesy of the Minnesota Power Falcon Cam. I got 3 nice captures from the Live Falcon Cam this afternoon. In the first picture, mom (or is it dad?) has just returned from some brief outing. The little guys have already grown significantly since last week.

Here’s a cute picture with one of the little guys holding his head up.

The parent spent quite a bit of time just trying to find a way of comfortably covering them all with her breast feathers. You can see here how she folds her wings down around them to shelter them from the cold. Isn’t this just the coolest? I really enjoy watching these little guys.